[Super]Hot À† Minsung 01 ; Next .ᐟˎˊ˗

Seungmin
P03  1600
I’ll be at the usual spot
2:47 pm

By the way. You’re brilliant, keep it up
But also
🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕
2:48 pm

He checked over the new text that distracted him. Rereading the message once again as he tried to keep the phone hidden behind the podium so no snooping eyes could see who he was texting. Or, more accurately, who was texting him during work.

“Mr. Han!”

Jisung flinched at the shout. Hurriedly, he pocketed his phone into his slacks, and stepped out from around where he was hiding at the front of the classroom. His eyes immediately snapping to the one that had called his attention away from his phone screen; One of his students sat close to the front of the room. A star student is what he would’ve called that boy, if high achievements and impressive grades on every test were the criteria to meet. Though, he was certain he heard some of the others call him a Teacher’s pet. Jisung didn’t mind either way. Students doing what students were supposed to do made his job easier anyway. So, he wandered over to the student and asked, “Yes? Did you have questions about the group work?”

Instead, his student just put his pencil down on his desk. A subtle glare stabbing into the poor teacher as he was mercilessly interrogated, “Why can you have your phone in class and we can’t?”

“For safety, of course! If the main office alerts me there’s a weird stranger on campus, I have to know what strange people are lurking out there to protect my precious students from any harm,” Jisung protested the question, subtly faking his eyes widening in shock as he tugged his lips up into a gentle smile. He glanced over the group that was sat together. What he would, once again, consider four of his most high achieving students that had bundled up together naturally to complete the group project he assigned for their newest section in the semester, reading Brave New World. From a quick glance over their shoulders, the four of them looked to be almost done with the in-class portion of the project.

To his answer, the four of them just stared back at him with disbelief evident on their features.

“What? I mean it! I’d protect any one of you with my entire life,” He puffed his cheeks up. Then following up with bundling his hands up in fists and bouncing a few times on the balls of his feet, pretending to throw a few light punches into the air, “Like this! Exactly like this… Pow pow pow.”

One of the girls in front of him, a student who usually had Hello Kitty merchandise with her as her pencil case or a keychain, crooned her neck around to see him, “Yeah, right. You couldn’t hurt a fly, Mr. Han.”

“You don’t have to be honest, let me be tough for once,” A sigh deflated him down as he dropped his loose fists back down to his sides. The four students chuckled a bit at him, their wide smiles enough of a sign that he succeeded in entertaining them if only a small amount.  That’s all that truly mattered regardless. With that, he gestured down to the four desks pushed together into their makeshift table, where those nearly completed assignments were waiting for his students to diligently return, “Enough teasing Mr. Han and get back to the classwork you four, you’re almost done and we have ten minutes left. Hurry, hurry, hurry!”

With that the four students turned back to finishing up the last of the questions they had to answer, their pencils moving to scribble on the paper as their discussion resumed back to the book chapters. While Jisung laced his hands behind his back. Turning on his heel away from them to not bother while they chipped at their assignments little bit by little bit. He remembers a few of his students mentioning they got nervous when he was trying to peek at their work because they thought they were doing something wrong. Still! For the sake of their education, he wanted from group to group. From cluster to cluster. Checking over their work. Answering what questions they might’ve had bundling up. Reminding a specific group of girls who were always troublesome to return to their work instead of gossiping.

Being a high school teacher was… Interesting. Yes, being in education was a career that Jisung had dreamed about doing since he was a student himself. The ability to help, to mold together, to shape what are such pivotal years within these young human’s lives, these memories which are made that warp their hearts forever. To see their smiling faces, to joke with them, to greet them with fist bumps and fancy secret handshakes they created to share with him during their lunch breaks, to be included in gossip he would rather not know about but listened politely to anyway, to be an adult these kids could trust with their stresses and worries, even what problems they suffered through in hours outside of school, that was the great sense of purpose he had the pleasure of taking part in. He loved his job, he really did.

But teaching was exhausting to deal with too. The constant complaints from parents who blamed every bit of their issues on him. The drama between the staff and other teachers, after all he was the youngest teacher at that high school which would often lead to his unfortunate involvement in their problems. The students who acted out, who didn’t care about their education, who smoked in the bathrooms, who bullied other students, luckily his classes were well behaved but he knew the day would come eventually. The late hours, staying up until 3am grading assignments and emailing students back only to recieve confused messages in return asking why he was responding at that time. And worst of all, the pay. The pay was lacking.

Lacking, especially when he compared it to his second source of income. Plus, as much as he enjoyed teaching, there was something more… Thrilling about his other job. More exciting. A quality about the adrenaline dumped into his stomach. Something about his usual bundle of nervous anxiety that plagued him calming once his finger rested on the trigger and his eyes concentrated down the sights.

As he had said to the other students before, there wasn’t much longer left in their class. The remaining ten minutes wrapped up without much of a hitch. His class quickly finished up the last of their paperwork, and began to pack up their belongings when he collected the papers to set onto his desk. Grabbing up the basket their phones were kept away in to set on the front desk before snagging his extra copy of Brave New World from the podium. Strutting over to haphazardly write down their homework in the middle of his whiteboard. Setting the message off to the side from the earlier lecture he had done, squaring it off. In the case that any of the students wanted to take a photo before they left.

“Next class we’ll cover chapters 4 and 5. Do the vocabulary words and self-assessment questions before next time, or else you’ll have no idea what’s going on, okay? And, uh, remember chapter 5 has an orgy scene,” Jisung warned as he flipped through the pages of the musty, older book, trying to take care not to mark the pages with the whiteboard marker he wedged into his fingers. He heard a few of the boys in the back of the class giggle at his words, so he quickly closed up the book and wrapped up, “All of you are high schoolers, so you will probably laugh at it, but I have to give the disclaimer that it is not required reading and any problems can go to the principal, okay? Have a good weekend!”

His classes were usually faster to leave than he was. Like a hoard of zombies, the students that clumped up with their friends to talk mindlessly amongst them about one irrelevant thing or another. High schoolers didn’t care much about the world around them. They didn’t mind either. With his own faint smile tugging at his cheeks, he watched them leave one by one. Gradually regaining his own will to pack up. Stacking the assignments into the thick binder he kept inside of his backpack, slipping his copy of Brave New World alongside, unplugging his work laptop to shove away, usually he would stay for a moment longer for the students in the case they wanted to speak with him privately, but today someone was waiting for him.

Still, like usual, the group of boys that sat in the farthest corner of the classroom came running up to him at his desk. Tripping and pulling each othesu backpacks to reach him before anyone else could, a student with blonde hair he (reluctantly had to admit) was his favorite nearly slamming into the front of his desk with eyes that sparkled, “Mr. Han, what’s your favorite Pokémon?!”

“Oh wow, that’s a reeeeeeaaalllllyyyyyyyy difficult question. There’s so many cute ones, it’s hard to pick,” He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, a slight shake of his head accompanying the guesture as he continued to pack up his belongings. Busied with slipping the laptop away, fitting his scattered pens away into the neatly organized side pockets of the backpack, collecting up his lanyard with his school keys around his neck. Those three boys still waiting eagerly for an answer as he lilted, “But my favorite Pokémon huh…?”

He ended up walking with the three students nearly to the front of the school. Nearly. Due to their own club activities they had to turn around and hustle back to not miss, but that conversation dragged on without much hesitancy. Like he said, those three were by far his favorites. A nerdy group of awkward turtles that reminded him too much of himself when he was their age, he couldn’t help but keep that conversation ringing in his mind as he strutted from the front gates of the school down the slight incline of a hill that campus was perched atop of. Hustling to his usual commuting station with a hastened pace until he had tapped in his pass, the phone he had slipped into his slacks burning a hole into the fabric.

He would get a mouthful from that asshole if he was late.

Their meeting spot wasn’t far from the school. Only one station over. From there, a twenty minute walk from the main shopping street to inconspicuous alleyways hidden between residential houses. Past the sapphire blue vending machines and the abandoned house that was surely taunted from by the looks of the decrepit outside. Onward toward a more active street for locals. Take a left. The location was on the first floor of a four story building along that sidewalk.

As soon as the glass doors slid apart to welcome his patronage into the small, hole in the wall establishment, he was assaulted with the thick scent of meat. Overly seasoned, sizzling smoky cooked, sweetened smell of high quality beef being roasted up lingering in the air. Topped with the refreshing clarity of the rice that beef would be slopped on top of with eggs, green onions, a sprinkle of cheese, any and every topping that could possibly be asked for. The familiar layout, though nearly empty at this time of day right before the rush of businessmen clocking out of their shifts at 5pm; The bar-style seating faced toward the chefs busy slaving away at cooking up the next dish the only two customers inside the restaurant ordered, the booth seating pressed off along the borders of the walls, and…

And the familiar shape of the man, sitting at the farthest end of the bar arrangement. Dressed to the nines as if he had finished up a shift at his job, or returned from attending a funeral nearly moments before. Midnight pitched slacks, white button up that always hugged tightly to his chest, soft baby blue necktie done properly, the professional dress shoes he wore hiked up onto the stool’s footrest beneath him, and the laptop bag sat on the seat beside him along with the suit jacket he discarded there. Neatly combed auburn burnt hair, prominent features that seemed so innocent yet mature, and the massive bowl in front of him. Stacked with endless layers of beef he was shoving into his mouth with chopsticks. Silently. He trudged over to him.

“The Mega Sized Friday beef special bowls here are always heavenly, like someone cooked up an angel and served it over a bed of clouds,” That man choked around a mouth stuffed to the edges with the beef and rice he was devouring. Not bothering to really chew or swallow any of the food he was cramming down into his throat. Not bothering to speak without a mouthful of that meal as he plucked some of the pickled radish from the condiments, set it atop the beef, and gobbled down another mouthful of what was probably his lunch, “Cheap, filling, delicious, what more can a man ask for besides good food, and an atmosphere he isn’t bothered in until you show up and ruin my day every time.”

Not bothering to pay him or his words any mind, Jisung sat down beside him at the bar arrangement. Not bothering to remove his backpack from his shoulders either. He knew this wouldn’t be long anyway. No point in stowing the bag away when he would be leaving again in a moment. Keeping his eyes trained on the condiments in front of him, trailing and memorizing the familiar labels from the hundreds of times he came to this exact location not to eat anything before, “Why am I here, Seungmin?”

Seungmin turned to stare at him.

“Excuse me,” He gestured to his bowl, “Can I please finish my Mega Sized Friday beef special bowl first?”

“I’d rather not wait. That thing takes forever to eat,” Jisung glanced from the corner of his eye  in return. Before going back to staring at the soy sauce container.

A heavy sigh left the man beside him. Irritated. Frustrated. Irked he couldn’t finish eating before getting to business. That was the best way to describe the sound he made as he slammed his pair of chopsticks down on the counter hard enough that anyone would’ve thought the cheap pair broke beneath his hands. Somehow. They didn’t. Seungmin rapidly chewed up what was remaining in his mouth, a fist covering up his lips from any obscene visual from his fastened chewing while the other reached out to the laptop bag beside him. Unzipping the main compartment, until his hands ripped a thick folder out from the bag. Tossing it loosely between them to dismiss what was inside with a vicious, “Look at that when you have the chance. How was the last set?”

Jisung slid the folder closer to himself. Knowing better than to peer inside at the contents while in a public space where anyone could see, glossing over the string of numbers written across the front but not bothering to decipher it quite yet as he blankly answered, “Didn’t give me any trouble.”

“Must’ve been easy then,” Seungmin concluded as he plucked his chopsticks back up from the counter. Already going to town on the next section of his giganticly sized beef bowl as he drizzled more pickled radish on the top and crammed his neck mouthful, chewing away without any care while he explained the folder, “Next will be more of a problem, especially when it goes public. You’ll need to be careful. Right between the eyes. One try. It’s a whistleblower for a pharmaceutical company. It’s an unfortunate case for a poor bastard who pissed off the wrong conglomerates. Think you can do it?”

“It’s not my job to ask questions or feel for them,” Jisung plucked the folder from the countertop and stood up off of his stool. More than desperate, and more than ready to leave the beef bowl shop, and more specifically leave this dickhead known as Kim Seungmin behind him, “I’ll get it done before Monday.”

“Thanks Han,” Seungmin tossed a lazy wave over his shoulder to him. He crammed another mouthful as he groaned softly around his bite,  “Fuck, this is so good! Maybe the sauces are different today…? No, no, that can’t be it…”

Hurrying to escape from the informat, or what he should’ve been calling him as someone akin to a boss, Jisung left the beef bowl restaurant behind him as he stepped through the glass doors once more. Sparing one more glance over his shoulder, before he continued on his way back to the station to return home. Already listing the chores he would have to complete; Washing his dishes, sweeping up the bathroom from the hairballs that found their way inside, hanging up his laundry, grading his student’s assignments, and now this.

He checked his surroundings, ensuring no one else was nearby to him as he peered inside the folder and checked the name of his next target.

Seo Changbin.

With a soft smile, he closed the folder up and slipped it into his backpack. Hurrying to catch the next train before he would be left behind.

Jisung’s finger ached to pull the trigger of his rifle again.

You’re next.

▄︻デ══━一ᝰ.ᐟˎˊ˗