#( — filed under: soohyun. )

[yohangaontdj]

WIP Tag

Rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous.  Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have wips.

@clawbehavior , thanks for tagging me! Took a while cause I'm basically a one-track mind. I work on one fic at a time and can't multi-task cause will lose the feel for the story. So when this tag came along, I had to go through my files to remember what I've done but not finished.

So first off WIPs for The Devil Judge

A Dare and a Twist of Fate.

Been working on this the whole of 2023 and everytime I thought I'm near to finishing, the story kept growing.

It started out purely as wanting to write a smut piece with dom and sub hints and always with Yohan having supernatural powers to do smutty stuff to Gaon. And inspired by this photo that I doctored. Took them from two separate photos and merged them into one.

Here are the originals that I took from.

I was nearing to finishing this fic when I got distracted by others that I want to write And when I came back to it in Nov 2023, I ended up re-writing a major portion, hence the delay.

First Anniversary

I wrote this 2 years ago. And its more my take on why Yohan hadn't taken Gaon with him when he left for Switzerland. And with some conspiracy thrown in cause there would be those who refused to believe Yohan had died in the bombing - the government as well as those who seek revenge upon him, especially the children of those Yohan had killed in the bombing.

The title first anniversary, it was because the story started out on the first anniversary of Soohyun's death. And I used lots of flower meaning and language in the fic cause that was the only way Yohan could communicate with Gaon who was under the scrutiny of the police as well as anyone who wanted to find Yohan through Gaon.

Here's an excerpt.

Underneath the fluorescent lights, the three stalk of flowers looked even prettier with their blue petals and pale yellow centres. But there was no note, no card, no messages of any sort, sending doubt worming through Gaon's heart.

And it was only when the paper wrapping had been removed did Gaon see the tiny word written on each plastic tubes - the ones which the stalk had been individually inserted into so that the water inside could hydrate it.

Anemone, windflowers.

Their symbolism, it had Gaon's heart lurching cause Anemone meant protection from evil and from misfortunes. And the blue ones had the added meaning of complete trust in the receiver of the flowers.

Gaon, to think that he hadn't been forsaken despite what he had done to Yohan as well as Elijah. It had tears spilling, Gaon aching to have Yohan here right now so that he could crush him in his embrace.

The two would be reunited in the end and was 90% written before I got distracted again.

Red and Black.

Another incomplete fic I hadn't touch for more than a year. It's loosely based on Red Riding Hood. And inspired by these two pics.

I sort of got embarrassed with the latest chapter I've written and also the sudden loss of comments which had me doubting whether I've written the story right. So I didn't continue and although I still have an idea how it will end, I've lost some of the details as I hadn't touched it for so long.

Gahan AU - Dating Show

This fic is also an old one, and its based on the idea that Gaon, despite his degree in law, he had decided to give up being a judge so that he can become a 'train chaser'. Those fans of railway trains who will travel around to take photos of them.

And he worked part-time at a cafe with Jinjoo as his boss. And one day, the TV station had made a huge delivery order from the cafe. Hence, Gaon having to deliver them and being unwittingly dragged into becoming a participant for a new dating show. Cause one of the male participants hadn't shown up, and they were short of one.

Here's an excerpt.

Gaon had never in his life had three women fighting to undress him. Face growing darker by the minute as he fought to keep his demin jacket on. And head jerking away from the pony-tailed woman who kept pushing his fringe up, tsking at how it was hiding the beauty of his face.

And just when Gaon thought he had to punch one of them in order to get away. Someone else had waded in, joining in the fray.

A man, much much older than him, sliding his palms down his chest and goosebumps prickling Gaon's skin. Then gripping his shoulders and smiling a smile that had Gaon shrinking from the threat that was simmering within.

"You either come along with me or get very naked right now."

That older man was of course Yohan, producer of the new dating show. And who had Gaon re-made - from a nerd to quite an attractive catch. But Gaon wasn't someone who would obey meekly. Plotting to ruin his chances of staying on the show by acting all crude and rough and callous.

This one has no title cause it lives rent-free in my head.

Inspired by an old K-drama called, Are You Human? And in the drama there was a very human-like robot that had been built, and the female lead falling in love with it.

So I have this image of Yohan being an AI butler, as real as any humans out there. And in a dystobian Korean society, every judge is assigned an AI butler to attend to their needs and see to their mental and physical well-being.

It is purely smut and explicit with Gaon coming home one night pissed and stressed out with the shit he had to deal in court. And Yohan AI butler trying to relieve his stress, using sex as a means to do so based on what Google had told him was the best way to do so.

So these are the WIPs I haven't finish. ☺️

[lupusxdei-a]

@obciidian​

Oh and one more thing. I suggest you drop that stinky attitude when you go find her.

Pff. He did not have an attitude — though come to think of it, when was the last time he’d been invited by any one of his obnoxious coworkers out for a drink or a dinner? One, two...five...Eight weeks ago? Eight seemed about right, if he had not skipped over any number of days. Then again, that was the desirable outcome, was it not? Fend them off with huffs and puffs and a long face that told of nothing other than boredom that they made him feel. The subjects of their conversations, the sound of their laughter, the unintelligent jabs at one another, the condescending tone used against juniors and sleazy comments towards random women were all tortuous - scraping at the back of the warlock’s head, begging for release. And so it came to a point where it was either his attitude to scare them away or scrape their heads in a very literal fashion.

Fine. So he did have an attitude - but Ayre the Elf was wrong. It was not stinky, it was calculated, and he was not dumb to want to scare away or anger the one person that seemed to be eligible for his final goal. As he waited shrouded in darkness, perched on his motorcycle, helmet over the head to hide his face, Soohyun could feel his entire body break into pins and needles of excitement and anticipation; his heart skipped a beat the moment he even considered the possibility of the witch named Xiuying agreeing  to help him slay Belphegor.

No matter how positively pumped he’d been for the moment of...truth, Soohyun began to hesitate as soon as he discovered the witch’s flower shop. It had been at least half an hour since he’d parked his bike nearby; it had been thirty minutes of staring and analyzing, of seeing who would come and who would go, of counting how long someone who might have gone in stayed. Eventually, when the ache in his body to move became unbearably, just before he became all unsettled and jittery, he removed his helmet, ruffled the raven-black locks of hair and then got off. One breath, two breaths. The helmet was stored away and he walked towards the flower shop, an almost military-like march, shoulders straight, his head held high, his breathing under control. The fists, however, curled and opened every dozen of seconds or so, the only indication of the nervousness that had started to creep in. If she refused, he wouldn’t exactly be at a disadvantage, but if she accepted...It would all be over sooner than he expected when he’d welcomed this year.

Two breaths. He pushed the door of the shop open and looked around. “Hello,” he uttered in a half questioning and half-declarative tone, waiting for a response.

[killerandhealerqueen]

im thinking about Yohan was a prosecutor in a Doh Yoon Chuh’s trial. That was the first time he met Gaon. Not Soohyun but he was the one got stabbed by stopping Gaon. He took Gaon home and they started living together. Can you write a headcanon about this?

OHO! I am INTRIGUED, ANON, INTRIGUED

When Yohan first got the case file for the trial of Doh Young Choon's, he raises an eyebrow at it before he begins reading through it, noting the list of victims that he had basically swindled out of their money

As he reads through the list, he lets out a low whistle because god damn there are a lot of victims

After reading the list of victims, Yohan declared to himself that he would make sure that Young Choon would get at least ten years for each victim...if he could get the man life in prison, that would ideal

On the day of the trial, as Yohan's heading for the courtroom, he passes the large group of protestors protesting against Doh Young Choon, demanding that he get a heavy sentence

Yohan huffs and grumbles under his breath that he would do his best, just as he notices something out of the corner of his eye, so he turns to see a young man, around the age of sixteen, slowly walk up the stairs towards the courthouse

Yohan tilts his head at him, studying him, just as the prison bus arrives. Yohan tears his gaze away from the young man and looks at the bus, watching as the prisoners come out one by one

Just then, Doh Young Choon steps out of the bus and looks around as the crowd starts going crazy, screaming at him for what he did to their families but instead of even looking remotely remorseful, the bastard just smiles

The young man that Yohan was staring at a little while ago looks at Doh Young Choon with wide, teary eyes and pulls a pocket knife out of his pocket, opening it up

Yohan notices the young man and sees the glint of the knife blade in the sun and knows immediately what the young man is going to do so as the young man starts moving, he's moving as well, stepping in front of the young man and grabbing the knife in his hands

The young man looks at him with wide eyes as Yohan studies him, eyes roaming all over his face before he looks him in the eyes

"You're Kim Gaon, right?"

The young man, Kim Gaon, looks at him in surprise before he looks down at his hand, which is still bleeding from where he caught the blade

"Oh god"

Yohan looks at his hand before he chuffs

"This is nothing"

He then looks at Gaon and reaches up, grasping his face gently in his hand, forcing Gaon to look at him

"He's not worth it. He's not worth throwing your life away. Just let me take care of him, okay?"

Gaon looks at him in confusion as he smiles

"Kang Yohan. I'm the prosecutor for this case"

Gaon's eyes widens and he quickly steps back, letting go of the knife. Yohan then opens his hand and lets the knife clatter to the ground as he looks at Gaon

"Are you coming to the trial?"

Gaon nods as Yohan smiles

"Good"

He then turns and heads to the courtroom, Gaon quickly following after him and grabbing him by the suit sleeve, making him stop and look at him

"Let me bandage your hand first. Please"

Yohan huffs before he nods and Gaon is off like a shot, running to the nearest drug store to by gauze and bandages. He then comes back and quickly wraps Yohan's hand, making sure to staunch the bleeding as best as he could

Once his hand is bandaged, Yohan heads into the courthouse and the trial begins. Yohan, of course, does his best and fights hard for the families to get a severe punishment for Doh Young Choon, the fucker only gets 17 years

Yohan is frustrated and angry, just as angry as the victim's family are and when the trial is over, Yohan looks around the courtroom before he makes eye-contact with Gaon, who's just shaking with rage

He then slowly makes his way over to him and places his hand on his shoulder and Gaon flinches, ready for the "I'm sorry" but instead, Yohan just looks at him and says "Do you have a place to stay?"

Gaon looks up at him in surprise and he shakes his head. Yohan hums before he motions with his head for him to follow him

"You can stay with me"

Gaon blinks in surprise as he slowly stands up from the bench and looks at Yohan

"Really?"

Yohan nods

"I know what it's like to be alone...and it's not fun. No one should be alone...especially not after a day like today"

Gaon stares at him before he nods, he and Yohan walking out of the courtroom and heading home

[thedeviljudges]

let’s all take a moment to remember why gaon chose soohyun over yohan in ep 12 bc i feel like we need to revisit this and refresh our memories as to why it happened.

that while it might’ve been seen as gaon “betraying” yohan, it’s the catalyst for the rest of the series for yohan to understand why he cannot continue to repressess his emotions and gaon’s ultimate love for yohan.

it doesn’t make sense for gaon to choose yohan given minister cha’s death just happened. while yohan thought at this point, gaon had chosen him and his side, gaon realized the consequences of their actions had real effects on people who have done nothing wrong (and i say this relatively speaking. minister cha is responsible for things, yes, but gaon was able to justify their actions towards people they had concrete evidence of wrongdoing. with minister cha, they were still trying to piece her together to take her down, and in doing so, she killed herself).

seeing the consequences of their actions, of gaon seeing what he was a part of, scared the living shit out of him. if yohan hadn’t asked for gaon to choose in that moment, he would’ve had his freak out and most likely stuck with yohan after working his way through the situation mentally. but yohan had asked because soohyun had found them in that room. yohan, who had understood how grave that was for soohyun to find them - not because they were actually in the wrong - because he knew now that she’d be able to do anything with that scene and twist it however she wanted, which she did, to some degree, when she failed to ask gaon what really happened.

gaon has known yohan for all of a few weeks. with two devil’s on gaon’s shoulder telling him not to trust yohan, trying to do so, and then this happening, it’s much easier to revert back to distrust when he hasn’t known this person for as long as he has soohyun and his professor.

scared people always find comfort and safety. it makes it easier to think things through, and gaon was already on the brink of losing his childhood best friend because she wanted nothing to do with him because of this situation. imagine throwing years of friendship away over a man you’ve only known for a few weeks, only then for everything you’ve done together come to a head and a woman die as a result?

gaon is in shock. in complete shock, and yohan isn’t because he’s seen death and how ugly life can be. yohan has not taken into account that he is different than other people (not necessarily in a bad way), but he’s had years to harden his heart and his mind to the ugly truths. he’s also learned to cope by emotionally repressing his feelings to get the job done. gaon has not, and nor will he never be that kind of person, no matter the tragedy who goes through. everyone reacts different to their environments and how they cope and process things, and this is a prime example for them both.

gaon was right to be scared of who he was turning into to. him mentioning that the first thing he was worried about was the file on minister cha and not her actual death should be a slap to the face for anyone about their priorities. gaon even realized that if they had the file, that still wouldn’t have justified her dying, that finding the files wouldn’t make minister cha’s death worth it, by any means. regardless of the files were found or not, a death is a death.

gaon realizes how they’re playing god by playing chess games, moving pieces and thinking they can plan for next steps, especially because yohan is under the belief that humans are predictable, but what about when they’re not?

gaon did not want to lose soohyun over this. that was his main motivation over this, which is why he confused that he liked her and wanted to be with her because at that point, he’d do anything to stop her from leaving his life. that’s even living with a false confession of love because he knew it was the one angle he had. that’s not to say it was done maliciously either. gaon, at this point, is desperate, riding on emotional fumes of someone’s death, not having his support system and completely lost. why wouldn’t he go for the one thing he knows will get someone to stay? isn’t that what yohan did with him in terms of the conman?

gaon was upset at yohan for him reprimanding gaon for soohyun bc for yohan, that’s gaon going to see a cop and not a friend. which leads back to my previous point above about how yohan is used to plan after plan and has little to no interest in processing what’s happened. he’s able to walk over the bridge and continue moving forward. gaon does not have that luxury.

truthfully, if you rewatch the scene and listen to yohan, it’s also his insensitivity that drives gaon away. because yohan is focused on the fight. he’s not focused on helping gaon process what happened bc yohan does not need to. he’s not that kind of person. but gaon isn’t, and he’s failed to realize this. this is to due to yohan’s lack of social skills and being so focused on the bigger picture.

gaon’s leaving is also one of yohan’s biggest wake up calls in terms of his relationship with elijah, understanding and feeling regret and paying attention to how he approaches emotion and the other people in his life. especially in the wake of k’s death shortly after.

gaon retreating to soohyun and the entire confessional moment helps gaon understand that he never needed soohyun the way he thought he did. yes, as a friend, but he once told her that he couldn’t live without her, and him going back to her, essentially regressing to who he was before, in one way or another, helps him understand that he can do that, and he has to once yohan leaves him the justice system to fix. sometimes it takes us going back to the things that were comfortable and consistent for us to understand the personal growth we’ve had while not in that situation anymore. think of ex-relationships you try to culminate in your life with friends, family, etc, and coming to the realization that you are a different person, and they no longer fit into your life the way they once did because you grew out of it.

[a-small-batch-of-dragons]

Soulgaze: Chapter 2

Severability. In the event that any one or more of the provisions contained herein, or the application thereof in any circumstance, is held invalid, illegal or unenforceable, the validity, legality and enforceability of any such provision in every other respect and of the remaining provisions contained herein shall not be affected or impaired thereby.

When Min Jungho tells him he’s going to need to take drastic measures to stay out of Kang Yohan’s awareness, he doesn’t think he means like this.

Read on Ao3 Masterlist

Warnings: magic, supernatural elements, demons

Pairings: gahan

Word Count: 6010

Gaon stands in the hallway, blinking in the sunlight coming in from the window.

“The…battlefield?”

Yohan smiles. “That is what we’re doing, Kim pansa, I hope you realize.”

He shifts a little awkwardly under the demon’s gaze. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“You’ve had a difficult first few hours.” Yohan claps him on the shoulder. “Let’s not overwhelm you anymore, hmm?”

He bows his head but is still too unaware of what precisely is going on to realize that probably counts as a dismissal. By the time he has realized, Yohan is looking at him with badly hidden amusement. He gestures toward the door.

“Go,” he says, “set up your office. The other judge should be there, Oh Jinjoo.”

“Bujangnim.”

Yohan nods and turns him toward the door. It closes with a quiet click. 

He’s taken most of the walk down to what’s supposed to be his office to process what happened.

His bujangnim is a demon. A powerful one at that, strong enough to alter the nature of demonic spell casting and break enchantments most demons couldn’t.

His professor, the man who practically raised him after his parents’ deaths, had willingly and knowingly sent him to a demon, cloaked as an ideal sacrifice.

Gaon pauses outside the glass door. He closes his eyes and shakes his head to clear it a bit. He would be lying if he said he didn’t understand why someone would want to keep tabs on Yohan. A demon that powerful is almost unheard of, especially this close to the centers of power, and occupying a senior position in the court system itself? Yeah, he can understand why something like that would merit surveillance.

But not like this.

I should’ve listened to Soohyun and just opted for a lower court first.

Gaon pushes open the door, ducking out of the way of a set of carts rolling toward him, turning to see a woman standing at the other desk, her hands in a cardboard box. She turns.

“Kim Gaon?”

He nods, holding out his hand for a handshake. “You must be Oh Jinjoo.”

“Yes, that’s me!” Sure enough, the nameplate on her desk reads Oh Jinjoo-pansa. “This is all so much, isn’t it?”

Despite himself, Gaon chuckles. “That’s one way of putting it.”

Jinjoo laughs too, going back to unpacking her box. Gaon raises an eyebrow at the sheer number of boxes piled up on her side of the office. “Are you planning to move in?”

“There’s a lot of work to be done.” She sets a stack of books on her desk. “I may need to spend some nights here to get it all done.”

Gaon glances over his shoulder at his backpack and the small pile of files on his desk. “Can I help?”

“Would you?”

“Of course.” He stands and lets her hand him another stack of books. He follows her directions to place them against one of the windows. “I remember this…I haven’t seen it since my second year of law school.”

“Ah, you must think I’m some sort of hoarder.”

“No, no, just…” He accepts another stack. “Do you think we’ll need all of them?”

Jinjoo blows a piece of hair away from her mouth. “I’ve never enjoyed relying on library hours—“

“Ah, I see.”

“—and, well…” She shrugs. “I’ve learned it pays to be prepared.”

He stands up, leaning on the windowsill as she runs her fingers over a small framed photo on her desk.

“I grew up in the country,” she says after a moment, “my family wasn’t very well off. This job…becoming a judge…you know how it is, right?”

He blinks. “I grew up in Seoul.”

She narrows her eyes, pointing at him with a smile. “But in a poor neighborhood, right?”

“How did you know?”

“Poor can sense poor.” She twirls her finger around her head. “It’s like a radar.”

She glances around to make sure there’s no one around and leans closer.

“It’s crazy, isn’t it? How…sparkly everything is? I’ve never seen so much glass in an office!”

“I know, do they expect to be able to look in on us all the time?”

“At least we have blinds!” She gestures to the couches. “And they gave us couches, I thought only the most important people had couches in their offices.”

“They must’ve thought we needed them for spending nights here,” he teases, earning him a playful hit to his shoulder. “And we are important, remember? We’re judges for the live court show.”

“These are nicer than my couch at home.” She runs her hand over the back of it. “And if we’re important enough to get these, I can only imagine what Kang pansa-nim must have.”

At the sound of the demon’s name, the brief bubble around Gaon pops. Right. That…that happened a few minutes ago. And somehow, despite all of that, he never got a good look at the rest of the office.

“Kim pansa?”

“Sorry,” he says, blinking, “I…I just realized I came from that office and I didn’t even think to look.”

I was slightly preoccupied.

“You met him?” Jinjoo’s eyes widen. “What’s he like?”

“Uh…” A demon? Powerful? Terrifying? Attractive?

Wait, what?

“…he’s not what I was expecting,” he settles on finally, “from the way he’d been described to me.”

Jinjoo reaches for something else in one of the boxes. “In truth…I’m a huge fan of him.”

Gaon stares at the picture in Jinjoo’s hands as she talks about how inspiring he was during her student years, how important this is to her that she has the chance to work with him, how the live court show is a unique opportunity, and he can barely process a single word of it.

The photo looks…wrong. Not in that it doesn’t look like Yohan, but it looks…

Gaon has seen images in demon-kind testimonials before. Cameras don’t interact very well with demonic auras, especially when it comes to capturing enough information to use as identifiers. That’s why there are special cameras that the justice departments requisition specifically for those photos. Anything else and it comes out a smudge, blurry enough to be mistaken for any number of things.

This image isn’t blurry. It’s as clear as any other, but there’s no way it could be an identifier. It’s, well, it’s an idol photo, complete with the decorations and all. And yet, he can see Yohan’s face as clearly as he could when he opened his eyes on the floor of his office.

“Kim pansa? Are you alright?”

“Sorry, Oh pansa,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck, “I…I only caught the first part of what you were saying.”

“I noticed.” She taps the photo and sets it on her desk. “Is something wrong? Are you sick?”

“No, I just…” He sighs. “It’s been a long day.”

She hums sympathetically. “I know how you feel. I’ve only been here a few hours and already I’m…”

She shakes her head and puts her hands on her hips, surveying the rest of the boxes.

“I think that’s a good enough start. Thank you for your help.”

“It was no trouble.” He starts to say something else when a low growl cuts them both off. “Sorry, I didn’t—“

“Sorry, I—“

They both stop, staring at each other.

“Was that—“

“I thought that was me.”

“I didn’t eat much this morning.”

“Neither did I, I was too nervous.”

Gaon smiles and shakes his head. “Guess that means we should both get something to eat, right?”

“You’ve grown up here, I’m sure you know all the best places to eat.”

“There’s a place not too far from here, if you’re up for a bit of a walk?”

“Of course! Let me grab my coat.”

Gaon does the same, shrugging his coat over his shoulders and following Jinjoo out of their office. The normalcy of going to lunch with his colleague does wonders to undo the knot of tension in his stomach from the other events of the morning as they chat about nothing at all.

They hold their hands up and wince at the bright sun as they exit the building, each lamenting they didn’t bring anything to help block it out before Gaon leads them into a street that thankfully has some shade.

“I should just stand on the other side of you,” Jinjoo jokes, “have you block out the sun for me.”

“Yah!”

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” She looks up at the sign. “Is this it?”

“Yes, just through here.”

They sit at a small booth with a window, looking out over the rest of the street as they wait for their food. Jinjoo sighs, propping her chin up on her hand as they watch the people walk past.

“In a few days, this will be the jury for our first trial,” she says quietly, “the fate of the defendant will be in their hands.”

Gaon glances at her. “You don’t sound happy about that.”

“I shouldn’t be talking like this, this is only my first day.” She fiddles with her hands. “We haven’t even started the trial preparations yet.”

He leans forward. “What are you thinking?”

Jinjoo looks at him for a moment longer. “When I was still studying,” she says after a pause, “we spent a while talking about the science of how the defendant presents themselves in front of a jury.”

Gaon nods.

“…part of that was talking about the selection of a jury, and how important it was to finish that process.” Jinjoo glances out the window again. “For the live court show, that process doesn’t end.”

“You’re worried about the trials becoming about mob justice,” Gaon realizes slowly.

“Yes.” She looks back at him. “Is that the kind of justice we want to serve?”

Before Gaon can answer, she gives herself a shake.

“Sorry, it’s not up to me. I have been tasked with a job and I will see it done to the best of my ability.” She nods to herself. “Besides, I have faith in Kang pansa-nim.”

Their food comes and they spend a few minutes eating. The warm food in his stomach helps to ease some of the nerves—“I told you to eat something, you big idiot, otherwise you’ll feel sick!”—yes, thank you—and he looks back up at Jinjoo.

“What do you think of the rumors about him?”

“Kang Yohan?” Gaon nods. “What do you mean?”

Gaon glances around and leans a bit closer. “I’ve heard rumors that he’s a demon.”

Jinjoo’s eyes widen. “A demon?”

“Yes. And that he’s working with others to hold power over the live court show.”

“Kim Gaon, where did you hear something like that?”

Gaon’s mouth slams shut. His tongue presses to the roof of his mouth. Distantly, he remembers a similar feeling when Yohan asked him who gave him the cloak.

“I wouldn’t believe it,” Jinjoo says after it’s clear Gaon won’t give up the source, “how many people would he need to influence? No normal demon is capable of something like that, and if he were powerful enough, surely someone would’ve noticed by now.”

Well, someone has.

“Besides, what would a demon be doing this for?” Jinjoo takes another bite. “The live court show has three judges, not one. He would need to influence us too. And why would he go through that amount of risk?”

All excellent questions, none of which Gaon has the answer to. He sighs, rubbing his hand over his face. “I’m sure you’re right. I must be getting paranoid.”

“We’ve only just started,” she says with a smile, “you’ll need to pace yourself.”

He chuckles, both of them going back to enjoying the food. Part of him lingers on Jinjoo’s questions.

Why would he go through that amount of risk?

----------------

It’s almost easy to forget, in the mess of everything that happened within the first few hours of setting foot into the building, that Gaon is a judge for the live court show and the first trial is in only a few days.

The three judges meet to discuss the case and it’s not quite the most stressful moment of Gaon’s life—it’s not even the most stressful moment he’s had in that office—but the way his stomach drops as he approaches the door is enough that Jinjoo reaches out to steady him.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes, fine, just…” He adjusts his grip on the files he’s carrying. She nods and reaches out to knock on the door.

“Come.”

The sound of that voice again and he’s glad he has an excuse for the way his knuckles turn white. Jinjoo doesn’t notice, too caught up in the thrill of meeting Kang Yohan for the first time, and Gaon slips in behind her to set the files on the desk, keeping the two of them to one side as he takes a deep breath.

He can do this.

“Kim pansa?”

He turns, an apologetic smile on his face as he gestures to the files. “These are the documents from the cases we’ve been looking over, as you asked?”

Jinjoo gives him a discreet smile as Yohan turns to look at him. Gaon swallows and pointedly steps aside, giving him a wide berth as he steps to look at the files.

The cloak is gone, he thinks as he feels a familiar prickle along the back of his neck the cloak is gone.

There’s nothing that should do him any harm. He hasn’t made a deal with Yohan, he hasn’t gotten in his way—the complete opposite, actually—there’s no reason for Yohan to harm him. And Jinjoo is right there, he can’t risk doing something like that.

As his train of thought hurtles further and further out of control, guilt roils through his stomach and he has to fight scowling at himself. Of course Yohan isn’t going to do anything, not just because he can’t blow whatever cover he’s got here at court, but because there’s no reason to. Gaon isn’t a threat, he eliminated that possibility himself, and he did it by helping Gaon.

He told him about the cloak, he explained what was going on, he got rid of the cloak and demanded nothing.

Too late he realizes Jinjoo is trying to get his attention and he blinks just in time to see her gesturing over her shoulder. He looks. There’s a section of the office behind a pane of glass that not only has a truly luxurious chair, but a tea set and a table with who knows what else inside.

He looks back at her and mouths no couch, though.

The meeting proceeds. Yohan asks each of them a few questions, some about their experience working with defendants like this, some about what evidence they think will need to be presented. Jinjoo has done far more work in preparation, it seems, able to rattle off not just her experience but similar cases she’s looked into. Gaon would be more impressed—if not a little intimidated—were he not worried about the way Yohan keeps glancing at him.

Is he waiting for Gaon to ask him something? Is he waiting for Gaon to slip up, to mention something about him being a demon, or what happened in the minutes they spent in this room?  Is he testing to see how far he can push it?

Gaon swallows. Scars on his arms and legs tingle in warning, memories of getting too close to deals gone wrong or territories too ardently defended serving to make him get up and leave right now, but he can’t. During a particularly strong burst of fear, he actually looks down, half-expecting to see a runic circle trapping him here, but there’s nothing.

There’s no reason for him to feel so trapped.

In the midst of his spiral, he doesn’t notice the way Yohan gives him a strange look.

He breathes a sigh of relief when they leave the office, all but slumping into his chair as they get back to their office. He quickly sorts the files back into their piles, setting one on the end of his desk and passing the other to Jinjoo. He finds himself smiling at how energized she looks, already typing away on her computer to finish preparing her notes.

“Clearly I should be doing more homework,” he says, sitting up and reaching for his notebook, “I wasn’t familiar with some of the cases you brought up.”

“They were only tangentially related,” she says, waving him off, “I wouldn’t worry. You’re the one who thought to go through the old case files, did you ever manage to get something from the archives?”

Right. He’d mentioned something to Jinjoo about looking at the Defendant’s history; someone like Chairman Joo Il Do would’ve had a legal paper trail, from inspections to reports to zoning legislation. His plan had been to sort through the backlog of trial transcripts in the archives to see if there were any possible ties to previous cases, but...

In order to do that, he would need access to the archives. The only way he knew for certain how to get in there was to ask for a key.

The only person that could get the key that easily without asking too many questions was Min Jungho.

Unbidden, a hand closes around his chest and it starts to get harder to breathe. If Min Jungho had known he was looking for the key, he would’ve known what files Gaon would be accessing. If he knew what files he was accessing, he would know what he’s giving to Yohan.

If he knows what he’s giving to Yohan, that quite neatly sidesteps Gaon’s plan to stay as far away from whatever that situation is as possible.

“Everything moves so slow down there,” he says instead, “I didn’t have a chance to get my hands on anything.”

Jinjoo sighs. “I know the feeling. With any luck, you’ll be able to find it before the trial.”

He glances down at his watch and stands. “I’m going to go home now, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Good night, then.”

As he descends through the building, he rubs absentmindedly at his chest as if to pry the hand loose. It refuses, keeping a grip on him until he closes his eyes and almost growls in frustration.

Where did Professor Min get the cloak from? In all the years they’ve spent together, there’s never been a moment where he’d even so much as hinted at knowing how to use magic, let alone understand it to a level of sophistication where he could make a cloak for Gaon’s soul. So where did it come from?

And why was the disguise to have him be the perfect sacrifice?

Gaon shakes his head, glaring at the ground. Min Jungho would not agree to sacrificing him. He wouldn’t. He’d spent years taking care of Gaon, mentoring him, raising him to be a son his parents would be proud of, that wouldn’t just suddenly change.

Could Yohan have been lying to him?

“I’m in the circle with you, baby deer, the same magical effect affecting you is affecting me too.”

…not unless Yohan had been lying about being able to circumvent the truth charm of the runic circle. He was able to override the total paralysis of demonic stasis, it isn’t too far of a stretch to think he could’ve overridden that as well.

But what would be the point? He still removed the cloak, even though Professor Min said that should be impossible, and he hasn’t done anything to insinuate Gaon owes him for it. If anything, he’s done his best to act as if the whole thing didn’t happen.

The sudden shock of cold air against his face startles him out of his thoughts, realizing he’s walked all the way outside since leaving his office. He shakes his head and continues. He looks up. The sun glares back at him. He’s got plenty of time to make it to the bus stop before night settles in, good.

Someone screams.

He whirls around. His eyes widen.

A school bus careens toward the Supreme Court. Sunlight flashes off the dinged and scraped paint. Tires squeal along the road.

Directly in the path of the bus, there is a crosswalk. Directly in the center of the crosswalk, there is a little girl in a yellow raincoat.

She isn’t moving.

Gaon breaks into a run.

His backpack clatters against his back as he sprints past the security, past the planters, past the crosswalk lines to crouch down next to the little girl. She’s crying. Her leg is hurt. He wraps his arms around her and tries to pick her up.

“Come on,” he pants, “come on, we need to get you out of the road.”

The little girl is limp. She’s staring at the oncoming bus, crying. Gaon curses. He’s not strong enough to pull her all the way up by himself, not like this, and not before the bus hits them both.

The bus roars closer. The horn splits the air.

Gaon makes his decision.

He couches in front of the little girl, wrapping his arms tightly around her and tucking her head into his chest. If the bus hits him before it hits her, she might get hurt less.

“Stay behind me,” he mutters as she muffles her sobs into his shirt, “stay behind me, I’m bigger.”

The squeal of the tires gets closer, closer, closer—

The sound of a gunshot and the little girl screams.

Gaon looks up, eyes wide, and sees a figure in a suit aiming a gun at the driver of the bus. They stop, reload, and aim again. As the second bullet fires, the bus swerves. Gaon clings onto the little girl, shielding her until the bus flips onto its side and skids across the road.

They’re safe.

Almost immediately, there are screams from the woman looking goer the children. The little girl is swept into her arms as Gaon stands, shaking, looking at the bus. Murmurs, whispers from the onlookers, that this was planned, that there was something else supposed to happen.

Then he sees the gas leaking onto the road.

He’s off again, running to dive into the wreckage, jumping and climbing over twisted metal to reach the still-breathing driver. He hooks an arm over his shoulders and drags him out just as an explosion blows them off their feet. He lies there, panting, as the force of the push knocks the wind out of him.

When he finally gets up, rolling over onto his hands and knees and getting slowly to his feet, he sees the figure watching him. They have a hand over their eyes to block the sun, but he knows what that gaze feels like.

Kang Yohan lifts his hand in a wave and turns, walking back into the shadows of the Supreme Court.

Gaon is left there, standing in the wreckage of the bus, the groans of pain and cries of terror on his left and right, staring after him.

And to think, he manages as the world spins into chaos around him, the trials haven’t even started yet.

The night before the trial, he tosses and turns, flashes of hot pain in his chest and glowing runes keeping him awake. He dreams of Min Jungho holding him by a thread over the eye of a hurricane. He dreams of strands of inky darkness wrapping around his limbs and pinning him in place. He dreams of a low voice that calls him baby deer and a gaze that just won’t leave him alone.

He wakes up and stares at the ceiling, wishing for something, for everything to just stop.

The day of the trial arrives and he dons the robes of the Associate Judge. He walks next to Jinjoo as they approach the halls to the courtroom. They stop in front of the door to Yohan’s office and Gaon has to stop his mouth from dropping open.

Unlike their robes, which are plain black with a simple red over them, Yohan’s robes are white. Black and gold cover his shoulders, his chest, almost like armor plating. He turns around and meets Gaon’s gaze.

A demon never looked so holy.

Yohan gestures to the hallway behind him. “Shall we?”

Gaon and Jinjoo exchange a look. They follow him down into the courtroom and take their seats. The Defendant sits at the bench below them, the cameras aimed right at their bench as the audience finishes applauding.

The trial begins.

Gaon finds himself slipping into a familiar mindset as the proceedings go on, glancing back at his notes and watching as the prosecutor and defense lawyer begin to exchange points. Judge Oh asks questions, Chairman Joo gives his answers, and the votes begin to climb.

Unbidden, he glances over and finds Yohan staring at him. He almost drops his pen in surprise when Yohan directs his gaze down to the witness stand and back again in a silent pay attention. Gaon flushes, distantly hoping that won’t show up on the cameras, and does his best.

It would be easier if the person next to him were not making that extremely difficult.

As it turns out, the only thing Gaon has missed is the beginning of an argument between the prosecutor and the Defendant’s lawyer over evidence of parts that might’ve needed to be repaired before the embankment collapsed.

“According to the deductions from the—“

“Deductions,” the lawyer repeats, “did I hear that right? Is this objective evidence?”

“He’s absolutely right.”

The room pauses as Chairman Joo stands up, facing the prosecutor. Next to him, Gaon feels something shift in the air.

“How dare you accuse a patriotic businessman of being a murderer? Do you have any idea how many people are able to make a living because of me?”

His voice keeps rising.

“We have 17, 400 employees at the JU Chemical plant, and if you consider their families and our partners too, we are burdened with the lives of hundreds of thousands! So to use this propaganda trial—“

The prosecutor slams his hand on the desk and stands up too. “Watch your words, Chairman Joo!”

“I have the right to speak also!”

“Defendant.”

The room freezes.

For long seconds, Gaon doesn’t dare breathe. The echo of Yohan’s voice rings in the still air, drawn as tight as a rubber band, ready to snap. Then he stands, walking slowly down from the bench to stand right in front of the chairman.

Gaon can’t see what’s happening but he can feel the way the hair on the back of his neck stands up. The chairman sits slowly, taking a deep breath, as Yohan steps back and calls for a recess.

He leaves the room on autopilot, stumbling down the hall to sit at his desk and take several deep breaths of his own. Ice still prickles along the back of his neck and he rubs at it to make it go away.

Demon, demon, demon, his mind chants, demon, demon, demon.

He scolds himself for being so skittish; what did Yohan do except raise his voice a little at a disgusting man, acting so privileged after his negligence had hurt so many? If Gaon had been able to get away with it, he would’ve done the same thing. Is it just because Yohan’s a demon that he’s reacting like this?

He scowls. He is a professional. He is capable of doing his job. He will do this.

He takes another deep breath and when the recess is over, he walks back to the courtroom and sits down without looking at Yohan. This lasts for about three seconds before there’s a pen prodding his hand and he jerks.

Yohan watches him, lips twitching up slightly before he leans closer.

“Don’t look so worried, baby deer,” he says in the soft voice Gaon remembers, “just sit back and watch.”

He swallows, the juxtaposition making his head spin. “You were the one who told me to pay attention.”

Another quiet laugh. “I believe you are capable of doing both.”

Gaon opens his mouth to say something else when the court is called back into session. He blinks and the air shifts again, Yohan’s demeanor shifting so quickly and effortlessly Gaon wonders if he imagined the brief conversation. But he remembers his instructions and turns his attention back to the courtroom floor.

A witness has been called, Dr. Yoo, who specializes in metal poisonings. He describes, at length, that there is nothing toxic in the water, that there is no proof of anything toxic in the water. Judge Oh points out that the symptoms of the victims are consistent with metal poisonings and yet, Dr. Yoo says, that cannot be true.

Gaon finds himself growing tired of this man very quickly. Pay attention, he reminds himself and begins to look at the other people in the room. The prosecutor looks irritated, probably for very similar reasons that Gaon is. The lawyer has an inscrutable expression on his face—understandable, given the nature of his profession. Many of Gaon’s peers had long perfected their blank faces before he did.

Pay attention.

His gaze moves to Chairman Joo, whose gaze is on Dr. Yoo but keeps glancing up at Yohan. He doesn’t look that nervous or irritated, most likely because it was his lawyer that called Dr. Yoo as the witness. The ghost of a satisfied smile lingers on his face as the doctor finishes his testimony.

“Thank you, Dr. Yoo,” Yohan says, indicating for the man to sit, “please, have some water.”

Dr. Yoo takes a long drink from the offered bottle. Then Yohan stiffens.

“Wait,” he says quickly, “that’s not the collected water sample, is it?”

The crowd gasps and mutters as Dr. Yoo spits the water out, wiping his mouth frantically.

“The evidence is here,” an aide calls, holding up the bottles, “look!”

“Oh.” Yohan covers his mouth. “Sorry, my mistake, they looked so similar.”

“He said it was safe,” come the frantic mutterings of the crowd, “he said it was fine!”

Gaon’s eyes widen. Yohan glances at him and as his hand lowers, something in his gaze softens incrementally.

Oh.

Oh.

Gaon shifts in his seat as another witness is called, leaning onto his forearms to watch as the site manager comes to the stand. The lawyer begins to press him for his testimony about there being no issues with the site before the embankment collapse, but Chairman Joo is watching him too closely. When the site manager doesn’t say anything, a sinking feeling appears in Gaon’s stomach.

“Mr. Jang,” the lawyer says again, “did or did you not already testify to investigative authorities that there were no such issues?”

The chairman stands up. “Mr. Jang!”

“Defendant,” Yohan says as the man’s head jerks around, “please sit down.”

Some part of Gaon thrills at the way the man pales and does as bid, apologizing. Yohan turns his attention back to the site manager, encouraging him to speak.

Mr. Jang looks at the lawyer, then at Chairman Joo, then down.

“There had been leakage since before the incident.”

The crowd swells as he continues.

“I don’t know how the embankment collapsed so suddenly after 30 years. What I can tell you is that the leakage was there.” He takes a breath. “Because of the seriousness of the matter, I told the Chairman—“

Gaon watches in shock as the man describes how he’d told the Chairman about the nature of an aging facility, that there would be dangers, that there were risks, only for the Chairman to dismiss them. Yohan keeps asking questions, voice quieter now, pulling more and more answers out into the courtroom.

“And what was his response,” he asks, “upon hearing your report?”

“He said that ‘those old people have lived long enough, who cares?’”

“‘Those old people have lived long enough,’” Yohan repeats, turning back to look at the rapidly paling Chairman Joo, “‘who cares?’”

Gaon glances at Jinjoo. Her eyes are wide too, disgust as badly hidden on her face as he’s sure it is on his. They both look back when Chairman Joo starts yelling.

“I have served this country for many years! I have created jobs, I have helped the economy, hundreds of thousands of people rely on my company, on my water,” he shouts, “I—I—“

He looks frantically around the room.

“This must be a demonic pact!”

The air freezes next to Gaon as the crowd swells once more. Chairman Joo must sense that it might help his case so he keeps going.

“That must be why the embankment collapsed,” he yells, “and why the leakage started, you know—you know there are rules about what we can do against demonic interferences—“

Stop talking, Gaon wants to scream, you’re making it worse for yourself, just stop talking.

Yohan isn’t moving. Gaon risks a glance at him and the cruel neutrality on his face makes his stomach twist.

Pay attention.

He looks back down and sees the lawyer scribbling something on a notepad. Chairman Joo looks at it as Yohan tilts his head.

“Defendant?”

Gaon waits with bated breath as Chairman Joo stares, unmoving, before he takes a deep breath.

He starts to cry.

Gaon’s eyes widen as the man doubles over, slumping over the bench, sobbing about how he didn’t mean to hurt anyone, that it was all his fault, he didn’t know what was going to happen.

In the end, he says he deserves to die.

The votes stand at 99% guilty.

Yohan watches it happen in silence, letting it happen until the man’s crying tapers off into pitiful whimpers. Then he stands, walking slowly around to stand in the very center of the courtroom. It curves around him.

“The Defendant has confessed to professional negligence resulting in death,” he says, “the penalty of which has a maximum sentence of five years.”

The crowd begins to murmur restlessly. Five years? For this?

“However,” comes the voice, “due to a bill passed last year, we can amend the sentence based on the victims of the negligence.”

Gaon looks around in surprise as the lights dim and the shades begin to lower. Jinjoo turns as well, shooting him a questioning look. Gaon shrugs helplessly at her as images begin to come up on the screen.

“Kim Sunja-ssi.”

“Park Myeoungsun-ssi.”

“Lee Jeongro-ssi.”

Every name, he realizes through a heavy chest, he’s reading every name.

The air in the room grows heavy too, as people begin to sob and clutch each other as the ’11 dead, 36 wounded,’ becomes names, faces, lives, human. Yohan’s voice remains steady, guiding them through it, until it swells and swells and presses against the walls like it wants to burst out.

When the last name has been read, the room holds its breath. Gaon watches as Yohan takes the list of names and crumples it up in his fist.

“For the Defendant, who, driven by his foolish greed, robbed the lives of the innocent and caused lifelong suffering to the survivors, this Court imposes a cumulative punishment for each of the 47 victims.”

Pay attention.

Watch.

“I sentence you to 235 years in prison.”

Gaon stares. As the sentence appears on the screens, Chairman Joo goes truly pale. Yohan walks toward him, beckoning him to lean closer. He can’t hear what is said between them, but if the way Chairman Joo all but collapses into the waiting arms of the security teams is anything to go off of, he’s not sure he wants to.

235 years. 235 years.

Next to him, Jinjoo is equally shocked, watching the families of the victims sag in relief that the person responsible will be locked away for a very, very long time. Gaon can’t stop playing the number over and over in his head.

Why would a demon go through that much risk?

“I sentence you to 235 years in prison.”

Risk, perhaps, but is this the reward?

[honeypwark]

[ Studio Intruder ]

  ↳ Crown era

       ↳ Kiryoung gets caught by a label mate. He offers his help. He becomes very fond of her.

m.list

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Some nights, when Yoongi is working late, coffee is the only thing that sustains him. It’s not like he even needs to be here this late; they just released an album and are in the midst of promotions. He actually probably shouldn’t be here because they have a music show in two days. But sometimes it’s impossible to go home when you’re working on something, tunnel visioned on completing your idea before it escapes you.

That’s why Yoongi is in one of the company building break rooms at two in the morning getting his second cup of coffee that night. He puts the lid back on then leaves to head back to his studio. As he turns to do so, he sees a small figure farther down the hallway, hood up, head down, and walking quickly.

His immediate thought is that she might be a fan who’s broken into the building. Somewhat against his better judgement, he begins to follow her. She doesn’t go much farther and Yoongi stays hidden behind the corner when he notices she’s stopped in front of a studio door.

When he checks again, he sees she’s unlocking the door and stepping inside. He walks over to the studio she entered. “Adorable Trap” is displayed on the door of Adora’s studio, but the girl who entered is too short to be the studio’s owner.

Yoongi knocks on the door.

He gets no response. He enters slowly, looking around for the girl he’d followed here.

“Hello?”

He steps fully into the studio but finds no trace of the girl. He knows this is the studio she entered because the door was unlocked, but where could she have gone? It’s not an enormous room by any means, so unless the small girl had shoved herself under the desk-

Yoongi looks at the desk.

He walks over to it slowly and takes hold of the desk chair. Once he’s pulled it out of the way, he can see the girl is curled up under the desk with her backpack hugged to her chest, aggressively avoiding looking at him.

“Stand up.”

She does, crawling out from under the desk to stand in front of him with her head hanging.

“What are you doing in here?”

Her voice is so quiet her can hardly hear her, “They won’t let me schedule studio time so Soohyun unnie lets me use her studio.”

Yoongi doesn’t understand anything about what she just said, “What?”

The girls reaches up and tugs her hood off.

“The company won’t let me use a studio so Adora lets me use her studio without them knowing.”

Yoongi blinks, somehow more confused now that he realizes the person in front of him isn’t some random girl or crazy fan, but his fairly recently debuted junior, Kiryoung of TXT.

“The company won’t let you use a studio?” he summarizes.

Kiryoung ducks her head and speaks like she’s ashamed of the answer, “They said that it wouldn’t fit with the image they want me to have.”

Yoongi feels disproportionately angered by that.

Kiryoung suddenly looks up at him with fear in her eyes, “You’re not going to tell anyone, right? I’ve already been scolded when I tried to help with recording the English version of ‘Cat & Dog.’”

“That’s so stupid,” Yoongi says.

“Please don’t tell anyone!” Kiryoung begs as tears gather in her eyes, “I don’t want to get in trouble!”

As Yoongi has been getting angry at the company for not letting one of their artists’ pursue their interest in music production, Kiryoung has been getting more distressed at being found out. Yoongi realizes that without a promise that he won’t tell anyone about her and Adora’s arrangement, Kiryoung is ready to start crying.

“Hey, no, I’m not going to tell anyone, it’s alright,” Yoongi assures her. “Please don’t cry.”

“I’m sorry,” she says pitifully, using her hoodie sleeves to dry her eyes.

“It’s okay,” Yoongi tells her, “You’re fine.”

He reaches out to hold her arm and attempt to comfort her but stops. They’re not close by any means; the only interaction they’ve had is when their groups have been together. He puts his hand back at his side.

For only being a girl he’s said probably a total of five words to prior to tonight, Yoongi’s emotions seem to be all over the place. First he was angry at the company for telling her she can’t make music and then he was sincerely worried about making sure she didn’t cry.

Kiryoung sniffs, “I should probably go home.”

“Aren’t you going to work on something?” Yoongi asks.

“I... feel awkward now.”

“Don’t.”

“I’m literally always awkward,” Kiryoung admits.

Yoongi chuckles.

Kiryoung winces as she realizes what she said, “That makes me sound so lame. I’m sorry. I should go.”

“Hey, wait.”

Yoongi steps with her towards the door.

“If the company won’t let you pursue producing, then I can help you.”

“...what?”

“I can help you with producing. You can play me some tracks and I can give you some pointers.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. Only if you want to, though.”

“Yes!” she says too quick and too loud.

She shrinks back in embarrassment. Yoongi chuckles again, growing more fond for Kiryoung and her awkwardly shy personality the longer he’s in her company.

“Okay. We can work in my studio.”

“Okay,” Kiryoung agrees happily.

Kiryoung follows Yoongi out of Adorable Trap, locking the door behind her then walking with him to his own studio. He pushes the door open and steps inside. Kiryoung hesitates over the threshold.

“You can come in,” Yoongi says as he notices her hesitation.

“I, um... Are you going to get in trouble? For helping me? I don’t want you to face repercussions from the company...”

Yoongi laughs at her concerns, “What are they gonna do? Fire me? I’m not Jin hyung when it comes to disobeying the company, but I think I’ll be okay if they find out. Now come sit down.”

Kiryoung walks into the studio and shuts the door behind her, taking her backpack off her back as she sits on the stool Yoongi pulled out for her.

“And if they give you any more ‘you shouldn’t produce because it doesn’t fit our image for you’ crap, come to me and I’ll figure it out,” Yoongi says. “Open your laptop.”

She does as he asks, logging in then handing the device to him when he hold his hand out for it. He begins hooking it up to his desktop computer. He opens up his preferred production and editing program, saving what he was working on then exiting out to make a new document.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” Kiryoung asks softly as he does this, her curiosity winning out against her shyness.

Yoongi glances at her briefly then continues opening files on Kiryoung’s laptop to bring to his computer.

“I guess I kind of see myself in you.”

Hearing those words from the member of BTS Kiryoung admires the most? Euphoric.

“You do?”

“Yeah. They wanted me to be the grumpy grandpa member for so long but that’s not really who I am. I’m not bright and sunshine-y either, but I’m not a scary person, despite people always perceiving me that way.”

“I don’t think you’re scary.”

“You almost started crying when I found you earlier.”

“That’s because I thought you were going to tell the company you found me!”

“I’m a lot of things, but a snitch isn’t one of them. Your secret’s safe with me.”

Kiryoung looks at Yoongi gratefully, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He points to his screen, “Which track do you want to work on?”

“Um, that one.”

“‘Crystalline Teardrops Flow Like a River of Grief’?” He glances beside him at Kiryoung, “You’re a little poet, aren’t you?”

“I convey words better in lyrics than I do in speaking.”

Yoongi smiles fondly at Kiryoung when she says that, the girl bashfully refusing to look at him after she does. He double clicks on that file and opens it in the producing software he has open.

“Anyway, about the company’s image thing, don’t let them control who you are. It’s hard enough being an idol already, don’t let them make you play a character as well. Don’t let anyone control who you are.”

Kiryoung looks at Yoongi with so much respect that he is the one to look away.

He plays it off and swiftly changes subjects, “Let’s listen to what you have, shall we?”

[dr-m-r-ma]

The Design in Her Mind

Part 6/?

Genre: drama, romance Rating: PG-13 Group: Monsta X Trigger warning: past-trauma mildly discussed

Summary: Sooyeon meets Monsta X by chance on the streets when they try to help her and her friends shake off creepers, but the meeting ends on a sour note. Some time later, Sooyeon meets the boys again, but at Starship’s headquarters. Although they act cold to each other, Shownu becomes more and more curious about her.

Disclaimer: This is 100% fictional and my own story. It is unrelated to the actual events and real persons of Monsta X and Starship. In regards to this particular fic, I’ve created new K-Pop groups and Sooyeon Kim is my original character. Parts will be written in Korean with English translations. I did not major/study in English/Korean, nor was I ever strong in English/Korean grammar, so there will be grammatical mistakes. This fanfic is written in third person and past-tense for ease of writing.

March 13 Should I just quit this company?

“Ugh….” Sooyeon groaned in the cab.

“비행기에서 잘 못 잤어요?” (Translation: “Did you not sleep well in the airplane?”)

With her face squished in her bag, Sooyeon groaned again in response. When she came up for air, she frowned at Joonha and Jeanie staring at her with amusement.

Despite her vehement rejection of the idea, Sooyeon was whisked away from her team once again to replace another sick person in the makeup team. There was something fishy about the whole story, but she didn’t have a chance to fight back, and she was basically shipped off to Japan just like that. This time, however, it wasn’t just a simple comeback stage, but one special stage and two performances at Music Bank’s world tour. Thinking about the long hours to come for the first day, Sooyeon snapped her eyes shut and wished it was all a dream.

“Hey, what’s up man!”

Everyone turned to face the English speaking person, and Shownu smiled to see BTOB members file into their waiting room. Peniel bumped fists with Minhyuk while Jooheon ran up to his same-age friend Ilhoon. Suddenly there was chaos from seven more energetic boys in the room. BTOB was definitely on their own level of… wild.

What caught Shownu’s eyes -- and apparently Hyungwon’s as well -- was that Hyunsik and their Minhyuk started talking to Sooyeon. And she smiled widely at them.

“헐… 뭐야… 아는 사이인가? 왜저렇게 밝아보여?” (Translation: “What the hell… do you think they know each other? Why does she look so cheerful?”) Hyungwon whispered to Shownu, while nudging Kihyun. Kihyun looked over and the two started whispering to each other about the scene in front of them.

Shownu stayed quiet, just observing Sooyeon. She seemed to physically relax around Hyunsik and Minhyuk, which was the opposite of how she was in the room with the Monsta X members. Her smiles and her laughter seemed genuine, unlike her awkward smiles in the waiting room or the forced laughter he heard so many times already.

“Oh my god!!! Soo?! What are you doing here?!” Peniel shouted across the room.

As soon as all eyes were on her, the other BTOB members flocked over to her side excitedly. Changsub took one of her hands while Sungjae took the other and they jumped up and down, shaking her hands vigorously. Her eyes twinkled and she laughed with her mouth open. ‘저렇게 웃을수가 있네….’ (Translation: ‘So she can smile like that….’) Shownu stood at the side, dejectedly looking on.

As if he could read Shownu’s mind, Wonho asked, “뭐야, 뭐야, 어���게 아는거야? 그리고… 우리 앞에선 한번도 저렇게 웃어본적이 없잖아!” (Translation: “What, what, how do they know each other? And… she hasn’t ever smiled like that in front of us!”)

Before Shownu could brush it off, they heard Sungjae yelp, “또 아이돌 스타일리스트 일해요?” (Translation: “You’re doing stylist work for idols again?”) At that, all of the Monsta X members and Joonha’s entire stylist team looked back at Sooyeon.

Either she was ignoring the attention from the rest of the room or she couldn’t feel the burning stares from the rest of the room, but Sooyeon chuckled, “나도 이렇게 될줄 몰랐거든요? 근데, 진짜 어쩌다 한두번씩 도와주는거야 -- 계속하는건 아니야.” (Translation: “I also didn’t know it was going to turn out like this, okay? But, I just so happened to help out one or two times -- I’m not continuing this.”)

‘성재한테 반말하네….’ (Translation: ‘She’s talking casually to him….’) Shownu raised one eyebrow with his lips puckered out. His signature pout caught the attention of his other members and Jooheon interrupted them.

“비투비선배님들이랑은 어떻게 아세요?” (Translation: “How do you know BTOB[-sunbaenims]?”)

*Silence*

Sungjae glanced at Sooyeon and blurted out, “말 안 하셨어요?” (Translation: “You haven’t told them?”)

Ilhoon whacked Sungjae across the head and whispered something into the younger boy’s ear. Shownu squinted, wondering what was wrong, but Sooyeon cleared her throat, bringing the attention back to her. She responded, “말 할 필요가 없었어… 근데 지금 말할게요. 예전에 비투비분들을 담당했던 스타일리스트 한 팀원이었어요.” (Translation: “I didn’t have a reason to tell… but I’ll say it now. I used to be one of the stylists who was in charge of BTOB.”)

With the words out in the open now, there was no going back.

Hyunsik seemed to sense her uneasiness, since he joked, “우리가 너무 힘들게 했지… 그래도 우리 여장해줄때마다 재밌었지?” (Translation: “We were too crazy for you… but it was still fun every time you helped dress us as girls right?”)

“Pfft.” She thought back to all those times when she did makeup for Minhyuk and Hyunsik, wondering how they could be more beautiful than the average Korean girl. Minhyuk himself always seemed to be in awe of how pretty he was as a girl.

The mood eased back into lighthearted playfulness between the BTOB members and Sooyeon, but she caught glimpses of Shownu staring at her quietly. When their eyes met, she thought he would turn away, but he only continued to stare at her. It was she who had to turn her gaze first. He no longer had the pout she saw him with a few minutes ago, but she felt his strong gaze piercing a hole into her head.

However, she continued to laugh and joke with the BTOB members when a knock came from the door frame. She looked up, as did everyone else, to find a group of boys she had never seen.

“안녕하세요, 신인 그룹 MNMT 모뉴먼트입니다! 잘 부탁드립니다!” (Translation: “Hello, we are a new group called MNMT Monument! Please take care of us!”) The boys yelled, albeit nervously. They held stacks of their debut album in their hands and passed one to each person in the room, including all the managers and stylists.

As they neared BTOB, Sooyeon grimaced at the sight of so many new guys approaching her. Before she could tug on Minhyuk’s shirt as a silent signal, a low voice grabbed her attention: “수연씨, 제 머리 좀… 해주세요.” (Translation: “Sooyeon, please… help me with my hair.”)

Whirling around, her eyes met Shownu’s. His eyes were dark, mixed with concern and something else that she couldn’t put a finger on. Something that led her to step away from her BTOB barrier and follow Shownu. Shownu sat in his designated chair and as Sooyeon readied herself to concentrate on his hair rather than the loud chatter in the background, a cold chill ran down her spine all of a sudden.

*Clack*

She dropped the comb in her hand and her eyes slowly shifted to the upper corner of the mirror. The sources of her chill were two members from MNMT and their manager. The two members stared at her with curiosity and interest, while the manager had an unreadable but cold expression as he stared on. Even though her eyes met with each one of them through the mirror, none of them averted their eyes and Sooyeon could feel an icy coldness creep up from the ground.

Moment went by, and only when a warm hand grasped her empty hand did she come back to reality. When she looked down, she saw a softer and gentler Shownu peering back at her. His hand warmed her hand that was clammy with cold sweat, and his eyes brought her back. Without exchanging any words, Shownu squeezed her hand and picked up the comb with his other hand. As he handed it back to her, he tilted his head towards her and gave a small smile, making his eyes crinkle a little.

Thank you… for not asking. She silently thanked him, grateful for his quiet nature, and quickly got to work on his hairstyle as well as his makeup. She relaxed bit by bit, and even though she could concentrate on her work because of Shownu’s gentle gestures, she couldn’t shake off the unsettling feeling that crept up on her.

[ hours later ]

*Bzzt* *Bzzt*

Sooyeon looked down at her phone from under the table, trying to stay unnoticed during the team dinner.

After all the rehearsals and filming finished, the stylist teams and a few managers all went out for a light dinner at a local restaurant. Distracted by what happened earlier during the day, Sooyeon could only pick at her food mindlessly. Until she received the messages on her phone.

It was Ilhoon, from BTOB, asking if she wanted to go to the conbini with Hyunsik and him, and other BTOB staff. She quickly texted back a yes and put on her coat.

“어이! 김수현씨~ 어디가...세욥!” (Translation: “Hey! Kim Soohyun~ where… are you goin’!”) Joonha slurred, drunk out of his mind. She raised an eyebrow in annoyance and replied, “수현이 아니고 수연이��요. 그리고 소화가 안되서 호텔로 걸어갈 거예요.” (Translation: “It’s not Soohyun but Sooyeon. Also I’m going to walk back to the hotel because I haven’t digested.”)

She lightly squeezed Jeanie’s shoulder and smiled before running out the door. She was met with a cold breeze scratching her cheeks and soft city noises in the background. As she made her way back to the hotel, Sooyeon saw Ilhoon, Hyunsik, their manager and Ilhoon’s sister Joo standing outside the hotel premises.

Joo noticed Sooyeon first, calling out with her sing-song voice, “수연아!!!” (Translation: “Sooyeon!!!”) and skipped over to Sooyeon. Throwing her arms around Sooyeon, Joo chirped, “야~~ 오랜만이다! 잘 지냈어?” (Translation: “Wow~~ long time no see! Have you been well?”)

Though she was surprised to see Joo, Sooyeon smiled warmly in response. “네, 언니, 언니도 잘 지내셨죠?” (Translation: “Yes, Unnie, have you also been well?”)

They chattered away while the group headed over to the nearest convenience store, and it was like old times again -- Joo exposing embarrassing stories about Ilhoon while Ilhoon tried to throw shade back and Hyunsik tried to placate the younger boy by throwing embarrassing stories about the other BTOB members. It felt nice for Sooyeon to completely relax finally… even though it wasn’t always this easy.

*Rrring*

The chime on the door rang when Joo pushed the door open, and all of a sudden she gasped, “어머.” (Translation: “Oh.”)

Ilhoon broke away mid-sentence and looked towards his older sister. Joo waved him off and said, “안녕하세요.” (Translation: “Hello.”) Sooyeon peeked over Hyunsik’s shoulder and frowned. What are they doing without their managers?

“어--! 스타일리스트님은 여기 어떻게…” (Translation: “What--! How is our stylist here…”) Wonho trailed off. His knitted eyebrows and pouty lips expressed shock and utter confusion, and Sooyeon could only crouch away from the sight to sigh.

She straightened up again and pulled Joo and Ilhoon over to the ice cream section. From the corner of her eyes, she could see Shownu’s hard gaze on her again. Even though she was in front of the freezers, Sooyeon could feel a slow heat rising over her neck and ears. Why does he keep looking at me like that? 사람 헷갈리게… (Translation: Making me confused…) She could tell Joo and Ilhoon were also confused by her sudden initiative for ice cream in the middle of March, since Sooyeon was known to dislike cold food during winter.

Hand squeezing down tightly, Shownu gripped his drink tightly and didn’t even notice the liquid leaking out of the cap. Despite how Wonho mentioned Sooyeon had a different air about her when she was with Shownu, he hated how close she was with the BTOB members and staff. He could tell she relaxed completely around them and was casual, throwing smiles and jokes with them. Though his expression stayed the same, he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pain when she walked away without acknowledging his presence. She could have simply just nodded her head or said a brief hello to him, and Wonho, instead of linking her arms with Ilhoon and his sister and walking off.

“처음엔 우리한테도 그랬어.” (Translation: “In the beginning, she was like that to us too.”)

Shownu looked over to his side and saw Hyunsik quietly looking at the snacks. Wonho squeaked, “원래 저래요…? 그럼 언제 사이가 좋아졌어요?” (Translation: “She’s usually like that…? Then when did you guys have a better relationship?”)

Not taking his eyes off the snacks, Hyunsik replied, “음… 거의… 반년 걸렸나? 콘서트에서 여장을 하고 나니까 좀 긴장을 풀드라.” (Translation: “Hm… it almost took… half a year? After crossdressing at our concert, she seemed to relax.”)

“그게 무슨…” (Translation: “What do you…”) Wonho frowned. She wasn’t even a permanent stylist on the team but she was going to be like that for at least half a year? He shook his head in disapproval and patted Shownu’s back sympathetically.

Hyunsik crouched down and only looked up when he saw Shownu’s drink leak from the side. Chuckling, Hyunsik said, “그래도 우리랑 처음에있을때랑 지금 네들이랑 있을때 완전히 달라보여 -- 그땐 한명한테도 마음을 열지 못했는데 지금은… 너한테 좀 의지하는게 보이더라.” (Translation: “But she seems totally different when she’s with you guys versus when she was with us in the beginning -- at that time, she didn’t open up to a single person, but now… she seems to rely on you a little.”)

Only then, did Shownu loosen his grip on his drink. The whites of his knuckles returned to pink and he looked down at Hyunsik. “그런건… 어떻게 아세요?” (Translation: “How do you know… things like that?”)

As Hyunsik grabbed a few snacks, he ignored Shownu’s question and asked, “수연이 타투있는거 알아?” (Translation: “Do you know that Sooyeon has tattoos?”) When he saw Wonho nod, he continued, “나도 잘 모르는데, 수연이는 힘든걸 겪고나서 타투 하나를 받나봐. 지금 2개 있는데, 어떤 힘든일이 있었는지 자세히는 몰라… 그냥… 모르는 남자들이 많으면 무서워해. 그래서 너희들한테 빨리 친해진단 말은 장담할수가 없어.” (Translation: “I also don’t know, but she seems to get a tattoo every time she goes through a difficult situation. She has two right now, but I don’t really know the details about what kind of things she went through… just… she’s scared of unfamiliar, large groups of men. So I can’t promise you guys that she’ll quickly warm up to you.”)

Shownu’s eyes widened and his heart raced at the implication. His gut twisted, thinking of the worst that could have happened to her, and his eyes sadly looked over to her figure. Thinking back to earlier, when he saw her tense up at the sight of MNMT, he punched himself mentally. He remembered how she froze momentarily and dropped her comb, only to be brought back when he grasped her hand.

“뭐… 네가 뭘 생각하는지 알것같지만, 그렇게 나쁜건 안 겪었을거라고 생각해. 아니면 트라우마 때문에 영원히 모든 남자를 무서워할테니까. 그냥, 욕하지말고 조금이라도 이해해달란 얘기야.” (Translation: “Well… I can guess what you’re thinking, but I don’t think she went through that extreme kind of thing. Or else, her trauma would cause her to be scared of all men forever. It’s just, I want you guys to understand her a little bit instead of just curse her.”) Hyunsik smiled and patted Shownu’s shoulder, before walking over to the cashier, where the rest of them were waiting.

Wonho seemed to reel back at Hyunsik’s words, and he worriedly looked at Shownu. “...괜찮아?” (Translation: “...You okay?”)

Shownu numbly nodded and replayed Hyunsik’s message over and over again, as the two walked out of the store and back to the hotel.

*** TBC ***

A/n: idk work is really killing me (lol) also just to clear things up, in this chapter, Shownu thinks Sooyeon’s past trauma has to do with r*pe (censoring bc idk what Tumblr’s guidelines are these days) but he’s thinking of the worst case scenario and as Hyunsik tells him, she wasn’t.  

[i-got-the-feels]

So this post is being made because of hashtags #i only started watching South Asian dramas ladt September so I don’t know about 0 # early 2000s Kdramas by @ezhilmozhi

I am gonna talk about the elder k drama actors whose shows I have watched and heard of.

So like if I have to borrow terminology from K Pop - the earlier 3 generations, since I consider the actors in the original post as 4th generation. And like some of the 2nd generation actors - I have got to know of them recently after I watched their post military service shows.

And as I was doing this I realised - you know what the earlier generations actors don't all look similar - they have their own unqiueness - so this is a recent change probably due to the Hallyu Wave getting bigger and them trying to keep the momentum going with what works.

So here goes

Yoo Ji Tae - Healer

Cha Seung Won - You're All Surrounded

Jang Dong Gun - A Gentleman's Dignity, Suits, and Arthadal Chronicles

So Ji Sub - Oh My Venus, The Master's sun

Jo In Sung - It's Okay, That's Love

Go Yoo - Goblin, Coffee Prince

Lee Jung Jae - Squid game, Chief of Staff

Yeon Woo Jin - Thirty-nine, Marriage not dating

Jang Hyuk - You're My Destiny

Lee Joon gi - Lawless Lawyer, Flower Of Evil

Lee Seung gi - You're All Surrounded Vagabond and Mouse

Kim Jae Wook - Her Private Life and Coffee Prince

Kang Ha Neul - When the camelia blooms, Moon lovers: Scarlett heart ryo

Jo Jung Sook - Oh my Ghost, Don't dare to dream, Hospital Playlist - 1 and 2

Ji Chang Wook - Suspicious Partner, Healer, Lovestruck in the city, The K2.

Lee Min Ki - Because This Is My First Life, Beauty Inside

Nam Joo Hyuk - Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo , Start up, The School Nurse Files

Bang Sung Hoon - My Secret Romance, Love Marriage ft Divorce

Kim Bum - Boys Over Flowers , The Tale of Nine Tailed and The Ghost Doctor

Song Joong Ki - Descendants Of The Sun, Arthadal Chronicles, Vincenzo

Park Bogum - Reply 1988, Love Under The Moonlight

Ji Sung - The Devil Judge, Doctor John, Kill Me, Heal Me

Hyun Bin - Crash Landing On You, Secret Garden, Memories of Alhamara

Choi Jin Hyuk - Emergency Couple, Tunnel and The Last Empress

Seo In Guk - Reply 1997, Doom At Your Service, Shopaholic Louis, Hello Monster

Kim Woobin - Uncontrallby Find, The Heirs, and A Gentleman's Dignity

Kim Soohyun - My Love From Another Star and It's Okay To Not Be Okay

Lee Minho - Boys Over Flowers, The Heirs, and Legend Of The Blue Sea

Park Seojun - Whats Wrong With Secretary Kim, Fight For My Way, She Was Pretty, Kill Me, Heal Me and Itaweon Class

Park Hyunsik - The Heirs, Strong Woman Do Bong Soon

Lee Jong Suk - I Hear Your Voice, Romance Is A Bonus Book, Pinnochio, While You Were Sleeping

Lee Dong Wook - Goblin, Touch Your Heart, and The Tale of Nine-Tailed

So you know how people say new generation of k drama male actors look similar and initially I didn't pay attention to it but then I noticed stuff and by stuff I mean

If Song Kang and Kim Min Jae played brothers and Lee Do Hyun played their cousin - I would believe it

And I have already spoken about how Ahn Bo Hyun and Ahn Hyo Seop looking similar

And don't get me started on Kim Seung Cheol and and Lee Sang Yi because it was after our beloved summer got over I realised it wasn't the same actor from Hometown Cha Cha Cha

And this makes me think - if korean drama industry has become more conscious about looks - yes, more than usual because of eyeballs that Korean dramas grabs on a global level. And if that's the case how many talented actors are loosing a chance to get opportunities simply because how they look cannot be marketed as the ideal "oppa" certain people want.

[terminaent]

WELCOMING: YOO EUNHA

CAREER INFORMATION: ━✧ SIGNED: February 30th, 2010  ( artist ) | September 21st, 2018 ( staff member ) ━✧ POSITION: Manager of RIOT

BIOGRAPHY

Born in Haeundae to a dressmaker and her Doctor husband, Yoo Eunha immediately won over the heart of her parents and immediate family with her warm smile and bright eyes. As she grew up, this never changed, always looking at everything she saw or attempted with an ambitious desire to learn and achieve. This proved to come in handy upon her eventually taking an interest in performing, begging for months and months to start taking singing lessons before her parents eventually relented and gave in. Upon her 15th birthday she was scouted for YEHAMEDIA, and went to the audition for the company which resulted in her passing with flying colours. Despite an extreme hesitance from her father, he eventually relented and moved to Seoul to live with her father’s brother and sister-in-law.  

She eventually debuted in the wish granting girl group ‘WISH’ as the youngest of six and the main vocal and visual, taking on the stage name of ‘U.NA’ (pronounced YOO-NA). The girl group quickly gained attention due to their vocal prowess and distinct sound, and while aspects of their music did change throughout their years, there was always a distinct and familiar part of their songs that the fans appreciated. Despite their success, the girls found themselves disbanding in late 2009, three years after their debut, due to the ceo of their company getting in a gambling scandal and betting away the company’s savings, causing the company to file for bankruptcy. The girls spent the rest of the year looking for a new label together and even attempted to release a song under their own label, the song never making it past the demo stages before a lack of funds caused them to sadly go their separate ways.

Eventually Eunha came across Termina Ent in 2010, who’d just debuted their newest girl group. Liking the professional vibe the company gave off, she quickly signed as a soloist and eventually even debuted as an actress under the label. She consistently released music and content under the label from 2011 to 2016 before retiring to marry and settle down with her (then) Husband, Jang Soohyun. After 2 years of marriage the couple split due to the rising of a cheating scandal where Soohyun was caught making out with another woman in a club. By the end of the year Eunha was a single woman, which spurred her to take on a new job as a manager under Termina Ent for their newest boy group, RIOT.

[multisquad]

Driven Part 1 (Soohyun Ver.)

Member/Group- Baekhyun/EXO

Genre- Angst, and Fluff

Warnings- Cursing and Guns

Mafia!Au 

Word Count- 1,189

—————————————————————————————————-

   I re-read our conversation one more time before I turned my phone screen off and began working. Junmyeon has been acting off for the last few days, I looked through the window that let me see into Junmyeon’s office. ‘Why does he look so agitated today?’ Junmyeon was constantly looking at his computer screen, shaking his head, the shuffling through his papers. 

  No one at Ex’Act knows this, but I’m not just Junmyeon’s office secretary, Soohyun. I’m also his ‘alter egos’ Suho’s Secretary, at that time I go by the name Savannah. Unlike Junmyeon’s other name, mine isn’t fake, it’s actually my birth name. Considering the fact that I wasn’t born in South Korea, but in Detroit, Michigan instead. So, while my husband, Baekhyun, handles the imports and exports of guns and stuff, I double check the numbers and research on different groups. To make it simple I make sure no one is screwing the Multi-million corporation, Ex’Act, or South Korea’s largest gang Exo over.

   After the doors were closed we began our conversation. “Have you heard the news, Suho?” The person questioned, implying that this ‘news’ so to speak is about Exo. “ Kris, I have been swamped in paperwork for the last 5 days, 13 hours,” Suho paused and looked at his watch, “and 39 minutes. I haven’t seen my bed let alone the news. I had to resist the urge to laugh. This is Junmyeon’s older brother that goes by the name Yifan but illegally goes by the name of Kris. Kris turned to me, “ Have you, Savannah?” I bit the insides of my cheeks and recomposed myself. “No, I haven’t heard any news, what’s up? I answered.

    Kris pulled his laptop out from his laptop out from his bag and began pulling up various files. He turned the screen towards us. “SNSD has started to get restless. They’re closing in on K.A.R.D’s territory.” Kris began. “Considering the fact that they are our biggest rival, things can get really ugly really fast.” I sighed in annoyance. “What do they want now?” Suho asked. Kris started pulling up more information. “Well as we all know, our relationship with SNSD is almost completely tarnished. Thanks to that little scuffle that happened some years ago-” I couldn’t help but laugh. “Little scuffle my ass, Taeyeon started a full blown gang war over a man that didn’t want her.” I simply stated. Suho looked at me and frowned, “It all would’ve been fine if Taeyeon didn’t have so much pride. This would’ve blown over years ago.” 

   A ding sounded off in the room, coming from Kris’s phone. “More info just came in,” Kris contributed, “ we just figured out some people SNSD are targeting.” Suho walked over to look at the text himself. If I looked at at the two of them any longer I would’ve noticed Suho’s eyes widening in concern and anger, maybe? “So, who i-” Suho cut me off. “Savannah, get in contact with Bangtan, F(x), and the rest of the boys, send them over here as soon as possible. Then send Shinee and NCT over to help K.A.R.D.” I nodded and began working, creating group chats with all the members and filling them in with the situation. “Kris, who’s the target?” I asked. Suho sighed and looked away from me, “Both you and Erykah are the only set and known targets at the moment. Kris’s informant is working on finding out the others though.” My eyes widened, ‘Taeyeon never directly targets people.’ I thought. No wonder Suho wanted the security around here tighter. 

   “Soohyun-ah,” Suho murmured, “Please, for your safety and my sanity carry a gun with you at all times.” I agreed, this isn’t Suho talking anymore, this is Junmyeon talking my loving brother in law. The scaring thing is, of course, I’ve been targeted before because I’m Kim Baekhyun’s wife and one of the only people that know almost all of Junmyeon’s secrets. But, this is different this isn’t some small up and coming gang we’re talking about here. No, this is Kim Taeyeon herself, one of the most dangerous and sadistic people ever known, she knows what she wants and she gets it.

   Kim Taeyeon doesn’t care about anyone and she never let anyone in, unless it were her under bosses that she was close with, but even one of them screwed her over. But, that’s a story for a different time. There was only one person that was able to break through her barriers. Her #1 fan, Kim Baekhyun himself, one of the oldest in EXO. Sadly, Taeyeon mistook Baekhyun admiration for undefined love, she took him in and they were together for awhile. No one dared to mess with EXO or SNSD when they were together. But, things didn’t stay peaceful for long. This is where I come in.

   I’ve known Baekhyun long before he got up and known in the Mafia, under the name of Light, we messed around for awhile before I moved away. Long story short, I got pregnant luckily for me I was financially able to take care of myself and my baby easily. Considering Baekhyun’s reputation, I never told him I was pregnant nor told anyone that he was the father. After my baby girl, Byungsoon, turned 1 years old I finally told Baekhyun about her. Regretfully, at the time I finally told Baekhyun that he had a child, he was in his relationship with Taeyeon so things got heated. Another long story short, Baek left Taeyeon and came back to me but not without any consequences. Multiple times Taeyeon began targeting Byungsoon, but after Baekhyun realized he made sure we were both protected 24/7. So, that’s how I got my recent job, and how Byungsoon has her now teachers, which is Bangtan.

   But, this is a lot worse than back then. Taeyeon is not only threatening my life but the lives of many. The scary thing is what will be the consequences now.

—————————————————————————————————-

Thanks for reading. I’m currently working on Byungsoon’s part of the story. Just to let you guys know Byungsoon’s story will be written parallel to this one. Hopefully, I can have Byungsoon’s story up in less than a week. Hope you enjoyed.

This story was inspired by …

Secret by @pebble-xo

YNWA by @jungk0oksthighs

@nctminiseries

@thesammtimes

@soobadnoonecanstopher

@chanyeolspout (CURLY HAIRED SQUAD)

[lupusxdei-a]

visitors in the night | yejin x soohyun

@gwyynbleidd

Soohyun had no one else to rely on.

Certainly, there was a big part of him that felt bad to be banging at the woman’s door in the dead of night, and not because of the time but because of the fact he had, almost literally, dropped off her radar for months prior to tonight. However, he really, truly, had no one else to rely on when he was ill (injured, to be precise) and unable to go to the hospital. How could he, after all? In theory, he could waltz into any ER and then what? Mister doctor, I got stabbed by an unknown, dark magic-infused weapon wielded by a demon who had been sent out to kill me, please help. Like that would work. And he could not go to his girlfriend either, not like this, bleeding from an open wound on his lower back, ghastly pale and with only enough energy in his body left to lift his right arm and bang against Yejin’s door.

Did she still live there? He couldn’t be sure. The lights had been off, unsurprisingly given what hour it was, and he had never got this close to her residence to be able to pick up any any subtle hints of her still being there. Soohyun could, thus, only hope that A) he had got the address perfect and B) that Yejin was inside and willing to help him.

In all honesty, he had some shame in him left and if she slammed the door right into his face, he would not have held it against her. After all, friends did not just disappear from their friends’ lives, vanish into thin air without a single word of explanation. But, he couldn’t tell her. Not at all, not at that time, months ago, when he thought he was close to his end goal. It had burst by now, though, like soap bubbles, and Soohyun not only found himself severely injured but also nowhere near to finding his sister’s killer. How splendid.

His heart skipped when he heard the door unlock and he tried to peel himself off the wall he had been using for balance, unsuccessfully. A tormented and apologetic smile graced his features as the door opened and he was met face-to-face with Yejin. “Long time...no see...” he manages to say, wincing once at his pain.

[lupusxdei-a]

starter for: @devotedneurosis​

The world should not have acted so lenient at the sight of it; what it should have been was be scandalized: a young TA mounting his motorcycle with an attractive female freshman and riding off into the...afternoon daylight should have, in theory, been enough to disturb the otherwise dull and uneventful life at the college, but the fact it was Soohyun (one who was known by his peers to have messed with at least a few of young students from the other departments) was enough for the universe to turn a blind to the transgression. Plus, his companion was Rue, a young freshman who was often the target of junior and senior males' obnoxious and poorly designed mating calls, and one who had already been seen twice with Soohyun.

The ride to his place was not as long as anyone might have imagined it to be - likely because he had broken at least a couple of speed limits - and soon enough, the two of them were in the apartment complex where the warlock resided, climbing up to the third floor where his apartment was. The first warning...well, not really warning, but a precaution, spoken as a flat-toned statement, was “I hope you like dogs.” Rue had been told that Honey was a relatively large and to some people fearsome, but as-a-matter-of-fact-ly sweet rottweiler who was louder than she was aggressive (this of course could be scratched right off the board if anyone tried to harm Honey’s owner; the dog, though appearing to be just another, normal, playful canine but Soohyun’s familiar and was well trained in sniffing out and biting off the asses of low-tier demons).

Then, when they were walking down the hallway, towards apartment number “25″, Soohyun marching several steps in front of Rue, he pointed out that “It might be a little...untidy. I didn’t have any time to clean up this morning.” Then again, when he had woken up this morning, he didn’t expect that by the afternoon he will have been welcoming any kind of visitors, even Rue whom he had befriended only about a week and a half ago. And last but not least, as he put the key inside the lock, and started turning it slowly, Soohyun looked up from the knob to the young student with an eerily composed face - a contrast to the previously stoic but amiable look and light in his eyes. “I could be a serial killer, you know?”

[lupusxdei-a]

telltale heart | arias x soohyun

 @obscaenitas​

"How are you doing, Professor Park!”

Soohyun did not have to raise his head to know to whom the high-pitched, enamored voices belonged to — yet he did anyway. Peeling his focused eyes from the book pages, with a flat, disinterested expression (somewhere in that aloofness hid a healthy, and socially mandated, dose of respect) he looked at the two, young college students offering their respects to someone who did not even hold said title. Did they think that if they gave him undue respect he, an assistant, would speak favorably to the actual Professor of the subjects the girls were taking? Please. Nevertheless, he nods back at the pair and looks away just as fast.

However, his focus is now chipped away. He lets out a sigh, leans back and stretches himself, grunting at the bones crackling. He stretches his neck and massages the left side of it, surprised that he hadn’t noticed sooner just how weary his body had become of being sedentary for...A glance at his Montblanc wristwatch confirms three hours had passed. He’s kinda hungry, but he makes no particular effort to change that. The only thing he does is pull out an energy bar from his work rucksack and place it next to the book in case he really needs to stifle an upset stomach later on.

Finally, Soohyun’s attention shifts to the girl deeply - and it seemed desperately - invested in studying seated across from him. The two had an unspoken agreement in which they had been sharing this one desk for weeks now. It was accidental at first, but slowly turned into a habit neither of them questioned. They never exchanged a word, or a look, until today. Something compelled the warlock to break their vow of silence.

“You look a bit green,” he says. “Don’t tell me - cramming has finally come to claim your soul?” It was final exams week soon after all.

[lupusxdei-a]

“ the way you shushed me was quite rude ” ( any muse )

Soohyun could not choose between the two bizarrely coloured punch options - one looked like someone melted green slime and mixed it with yellow cake dye, and the other like someone exploded a bath bomb in milk and then added an unholy amount of glitter (unless the bath bomb came with the glitter). Either way, neither looked digestible, but at the end of the day what did he care? He could not taste it anyway, he was at a year-end party that he got dragged into and he was leaving soon anyway. As soon as he gets remotely inebriated that is.

Finally, he chooses the pink one and as he is pouring it, he hears a high voice spouting resentment at him. He looks back and sees her, the only other non-human at the party (regretfully) and lets out a deep sigh. “What did you want me to do, drag you away by the heels? Your comments were inappropriate - they’re all human, you know. And if I know your kind, and I know it rather well, you don’t need unnecessary attention.” Not that hunters needed to be a problem - Hell, even he did a hunter’s work on a few occasions and was proud of it. “Punch? We’ve got Glitter Explosion and Alien’s Diarrhea, apparently.”