Finally getting into the bulk of the plot 😭😭😭 By this time in DNSA Jeongin was learning how to kidnap Felix from Felix

Also, I think Welcome to My World by aespa is somehow a very fitting song for this story??? Idk why but it fits minsung to me

"Athanasia Laboratories were the one to place a hit on him. If they were behind the kidnapping the hit wouldn't be open anymore."

"Still, wouldn't there be a chance?"

"Maybe. Probably. Sometimes...?" Seungmin's lips turned upside down into a deep scowl as his hands busied themselves on his chopsticks, gently picking apart the pieces of grated pickled radish placed atop the ungodly amount of beef Chan cooked up for that beef bowl. Large enough to force anyone who was unprepared into a food coma. Yet Jisung simply kept his eyes focused on that man as he easily shoved another scoopful of seared beef and sticky rice into his mouth. Chewing away at his enormous bite while he talked around the clump, "I wouldn't get reckless to bank everything into that guess but it wouldn't hurt to entertain the thought until more is known."

Blankly, Jisung offered up an accepting nod as he returned himself to his own bowl. Not a Mega Sized bowl, unlike the other. He had a beautiful lunch, wasn't quite as hungry, didn't have the appetite for a meal quite as titanic as that one. Gently pushing around the rice and the strips of mouth-watering beef while he allowed his boss's words to sink into his mind; He had a point, it seemed weird that the people who ordered the hit on Changbin would then proceed to kidnap him, it didn't make practical sense for that juxtaposition of actions to be happening unless someone from within the company was aware elsewhere the hit was open, but then why not kill him when given the window? Not to mention him and Minho being chased so far by what they assumed were security guards for the laboratory properties, did they think Minho and him were paparazzi? Journalists?

Why couldn't this job be easy...? By now, he could be marinating himself in a steaming bath with a sublimely scented bathbomb at home, getting ready to bundle up into his fuzzy kitten socks with a heated blanket on his couch with his favorite movie playing on the television, tucked up while he graded his kid's assignments, he could be at home. Comfortable in his house. Enjoying his normal, ordinary life. Instead, because of that selfish bitch Seo Changbin and his gang of wandering strangers they kidnapped him, he's here. Dragged to Chan's beef bowl shop. His stuffed backpack at his feet while they sat together at the bar seating. On a chilly Friday afternoon. Doesn't Seungmin have better things to do with his life on these days? The only reason Jisung appreciated these moments were the chance to talk business with him, even if they had to take care not to be heard.

The shop itself was uncharacteristically empty. For a Friday afternoon. Typically the place would be flooded with locals around this time of day, directly after the school day came to a much-needed ending and work hours have been postponed with the appearance of their anticipated weekend peering around the corner. Occasionally, the shop would be so packed a few of his high school students would notice him eating here and would come to say hello (Thankfully not today). Aside from them, only a neighborhood grandma was there. With nothing to do aside from wait, the chef naturally lingered. Approaching where they sat to spark up a conversation in that heavily-accented English, "You both have that look to your faces again. You look troubled."

"It's work. You know how it is. I had a day full of paperwork, Jisung is always tired out from teaching his classes," Seungmin answered him, easily. Naturally. As if English was his native tongue similarly to Chan, rather than a hobby he picked up on due to working with hitmen in his free time. Again, perhaps Jisung should've willed himself to improving his English skills over any of his other lacking hobbies (He supposes he reads a lot? That was about the only hobby he had, and his reading wasn't a fun hobby anyway, he didn't read fantasy or action, usually classical literature), but knowing there wasn't much point in it anyway. He could understand their conversations. He could answer with a simple response. That's all that mattered. Anything else, Seungmin can handle when it came to Chan.

"I do. I hated my job in Sydney," Chan grunted the agreement. He propped a hand against his hip, allowing the other to lean himself onto a counter on the other side he used for cooking space. Rooting. He wasn't about to move for a while. Thwt meant they'd be stuck in a conversation with Chan for a while. Don't misunderstand, Jisung adored Chan and he would protect the shop owner with his life if it came down to it, however listening to him and Seungmin talk often wore him out. They spoke fast, one with an accident, the other like a Hollywood A-list actor, and often their words became difficult to follow. So, Jisung braced himself by returning to his meal while the Australian kept chatting, "Moving to make beef bowls hereー best decision of my life. So cliché for me to say, right? Moving out, traveling, finding yourself, hey! It works! If you aren't happy with your jobs, why don't you quit? Travel to Tahiti!"

"Things aren't that simple all the time. If Jisung or I could quit we probably would. Well, he would without a doubt," Seungmin gestured with his head to Jisung, adding into his insistence with a thumb jammed at him too. As his hand smacked back down in the smooth wood of the bar seating, Seungmin buried himself back into his beef bowl, taking another bite amongst his words, "Right? You'd quit the orders if you could."

I guess, aside from reading, that's another way I enjoy my time...

The teacher paused his munching on his delicious meal. Chan had a way with cooking. Maybe he could hire him as a private chef. Or ask him to cook more meals for him? If anything ever happened to this man, Jisung would barrel through hell for his soul back so he could keep eating his food. Not the point, however. He ran his fingers over the length of his chopsticks as he murmured, "Mmmmh... I don't think so. These days I'm finding I do it more like a... A hobby, for enjoyment, than anything else..."

Seungmin turned his head fully to Jisung.

He stared for a moment.

Before humming, "Something is wrong with you. I mean, seriously. Seriously something is wrong with your head."

Jisung nodded, "I think so too."

"Your next job, I'll pay you extra to get a therapist. Get help or, get laid, with a sane person not some crazy witch again, maybe that will calm you down. God," Which were funny words coming from someone like Seungmin who was possibly a hundred other shades of mentally twisted than he was; At least Jisung had the decency for mercies where Seungmin only saught for money. Shades of morality weren't a range of colors his boss knew. For him, the world would always be black or white, money or loss, and there would be nothing to change that mindset of his. Still, he continues to pantomime. Theatrical entertainment for the audience of Chan's confused glances he sent between them to want to understand, Seungmin a one-man act on that stage only for his profit, "Nevermind. Jisung is a sadomasochist."

Chan simply looked to Jisung. His eyes brimming up with pity for another person, "I hope his boyfriend knows that and is ready to deal with it..."

"Boyfriend?" Seungmin repeated. Underneath the bar seats, he kicked his dress shoes into the teacher's unsuspecting shins, "Since when? Didn't you swear yourself off of relationships after your vampire ex? Why don't you tell me these things?"

"Ignore it. He thinks Minho is my boyfriend. I brought him here after work one day and, I guess for some reason Chan misunderstood," Stealthily, Jisung snuck his leg away from behind kicked anymore by Seungmin. Subtly shifting in a way that the seat's stands shielded him from any other assaults from the other. Especially now. His shins were still aching from running away that day. Even worse, from earlier this morning when he showed his second period he could in fact jump up to his feet from a kneeling position when they bet he couldn't (He had a point to prove!). Not that Seungmin knew. Jisung scrapped up the last few kernels of his rice as he finished, "He looked excited I'm finally trying to make another normal human relationship so I didn't correct him on it."

Behind them, the bell to the front door chimed. Announcing the arrival of another patron. While Chan tightened his apron and stepped out from his open kitchen area, most likely to assist them if they were puzzled with the order ticket machine, Seungmin and himself returned to their own dinners. Seungmin tackling the unmovable mountain of rice, beef, egg, kimchi, sauce, everything inside of that massive dish. Jisung finishing up the last shreds of pickled radish, ginger, or seaweed clinging to the side of his bowl for a little more of that taste to linger on his journey homeward. Neither of them paying much mind to anything else in the world. Particularly not Jisung. He had enough to explore in his mind without having to worry about staying vigilant in a place he didn't need to be. Plus, yummy food...

Or, he didn't pay attention to anyone entering or giving anything else in the shop much mind, untilー

"Um... I'm really really sorry... do you know if someone named Seungmin is around?"

The hitman tensed.

Seungminー?

Both him and Seungmin immediately snapped over their shoulders.

Whoー

Only to see an odd scene. First, was Chan. The poor chef who had wandered over to help a customer with eager readiness. Now standing statued. His eyebrows furrowed and his eyes wide as if seeing the new customer more would help him. Help him understand, most likely, Chan looked puzzled. Korean. He's not the best at Korean. And those words spoken at him were fast, softly said, he probably didn't catch or understand anything the man said to him when he asked for Seungmin.

The other, was the poor man shrinking away from Chan staring at him cluelessly. Leaning backwards to escape the Australian's gaping. Surprisingly, it was that barista. Hyunjin? Though he looked acutely different from how he did when he was in his uniform; His voluminous hair fluffed up around his helpless features, the subtly puffiness of eyebags underneath a pair of round glasses that appeared gentler without the glitter he normally put beneath, rather than his uniform he wore an oversized grey sweater that hung loosely on his neck to reveal some of his collarbones and cozy black jeans that hugged his thighs nicely. A black backpack draped over his shoulders. Was he a student? A university student? His hands were covered up in sweater paws as they bundled up around something squared wrapped in a cloth with duckling patterns all over it.

"Hyunjin?" Seungmin was the first to speak up, easily adjusting himself sideways in the barstool style seat to gesture the barista over, "What are you doing here?"

Reluctantly, Hyunjin spared one last look at the lost chef. He gave him a ginger bow, inching away, another bow, again tipping his head a bit, inching, awkwardly. Extremely awkwardly because Chan wasn't sure what else to do aside from bow back and stiffly made his way back to his kitchen space. With him gone, Hyunjin rapidly shuffled over to greet Seungmin. His hands clutching tighter on the wrapped up container as if the small box would offer him safety. His converse came to nervously scratch at the back of his heel while he spoke. It seemed like the poor dude thought he was entering a lion's den to be torn apart with the way he was behaving, I-I'm sorry, I should've asked if it was alright but you said you would be here and I know you would've said noー I wanted to thank you for helping me last weekー"

Again, lion's den. What? Did he really think the three of them were scary? Australian surf dude with a smile brighter than the sunlight; Seungmin, rich young bachelor who smelled heavenly from his expensive perfumes; Him, a very obvious high school teacher? If you ignore two of them were hitmen. Were they intimidating, normally? Jisung wouldn't have guessed it, they all look like nerds. Was there a reason for Hyunjin to seem so rigid around them? Did they do something wrong?

And Jisung was sure it didn't make his situation any easier when Seungmin fondly set a hand on his upper arm to reassure him. Calm him. Doing anything but that as Hyunjin's cheeks flushed with a rosy hue and he had to stumble to find the correct words when he presented the duckling fabric wrapped container to him, "This is, uh, t-these are brownies. They're heart shaped. It's a recipe my friend taught me a while ago. I wanted to give them to you, as a thank youー"

"Hey, hey, don't stress, alright? You don't need to keep thanking me. It's my pleasure to help you. It's what I do," His boss, well, flirted. Not his usual purposefully bad, playful flirting, but the sort of flirting Jisung was certain would make even him fold in half. He was flirting with Hyunjin when he gave him a smooth upturn of his lips into his usual charming smile, he was flirting with him when his hand squeezed down on his arm fondly, he was flirting to Hell and back with this poor guy. But at the least, it seemed to have calmed Hyunjin ever so slightly from how nervous he was before. As the young barista relaxed, Seungmin released his grip and moved the seat beside him away from the bar. Gesturing to it in offer, "Do you have anywhere to be? Have a seat, I'll buy you something to eat."

As Hyunjin gingerly slipped his backpack off and slid himself into the seat beside Seungmin; Getting comfortable, setting his phone that was hidden in his hands on the chair by his hip the duckling container his boss plucked up from his grip to set beside him, placing his backpack on the floor at his feet, sifting a few times as his gaze naturally wandered to scan the beef bowl shop for the first time since he entered. Without a word aside from his soft exhale of relief blown out into a puff of his cheeks. While he was distracted, Jisung took the moment to quickly eye his collarbones and his neck. Finding nothing. No marks on him.

No hickeys this time?

He did seem to be in a significantly better mood than that day. That hickey must've had something to do with it, then.

As he glanced around, Jisung awkwardly caught his eyes. Before he could say anything to break the tension, Hyunjin snapped his gaze downward and away from him.

Seungmin must've noticed the odd interaction between them. He spoke up in place of either of them, "Hyunjin, do you speak English?"

"Not much," The barista shook his head.

"That's okay. Let me order for you. Chan," Seungmin called the Australian over, wherever Chan had wandered off to (Grabbing another stack of bowls from the back of house it seemed, since he was currently setting down the tower of bowls he was carrying on the counter). Though he abandoned what he was doing as the other tried to get his attention. Shuffling over to the three of them with a squishy, dorky smile that seemed about as unthreatening as a rubber stress ball. And if Jisung noticed Hyunjin stared with a slack jaw at Seungmin in amazement when he spoke English, he certainly wasn't about to inflate his already massive ego by telling him, "Look, I'm trying to hit on this guy. I think he's pretty cute. Give me your best dish in the entire establishment, I don't care how much it costs, just go crazy on it. PLEASE."

A hearty laughter left Chan (The amused sound almost scaring Hyunjin out of his skin), before the chef turned over his shoulder to cook up a dish that would woo the barista, "You got it boss."

Seungmin turned his back to Jisung completely, effectively shutting the teacher off as he said something quiet to Hyunjin. Sparking up a conversation between them that plunged them into their own bubble of existence; The way that Hyunjin balanced his hands on his neck as he slouched ever so slightly closer to the other, fully mellowed out from his earlier nerves; Or Seungmin who didn't notice his elbow leaning him on the bar or his other hand anxiously rubbing at his own thigh in a placating manner; If there's one thing Jisung knew about Seungmin, among every other fucked up thing about him, it's that pretty men made him extremely nervous. No matter how swave or charming he pretended he was, that would never change. So, anyway, let him have his fun. It's not often Seungmin got the chance to flirting with someone like this. Even if they both knew it wouldn't lead anywhere.

While they were distracted by one another, Hyunjin's phone screen lighting up caught Jisung's eye. Purposefully peeping, he read the pixels.

🖤🤍 is calling...

Interesting.

Jisung set his chopsticks down across his bowl, sending a fast smile to Chan who took his empty plate, before he looked Hyunjin over again. How gently he laughed at something Seungmin said, oblivious and unaware of the person calling for him.

A boyfriend?

"I'll go home first," Jisung collected up his backpack from the ground, hurriedly swinging it over his shoulder and hopping up from his seat. Gently, as Seungmin lifted a hand to address him leaving, Jisung leaned in to tell him in English, "Leave a distance. Someone else is calling him."

His boss followed his eyes. Though he deflated with a disappointment, Seungmin gave a nod before returning to his conversation with Hyunjin. Jisung gave them one last glance, abandoning them behind as he left the shop.

"So, Pumpkin. How do you feel about strip clubs?"

"They're vile," Jisung easily answered Minho, reaching into the offered bag of gummy watermelons while they walked together in the early morning sun. The familiar park they had met at before, before even the sun had fully reached the top of the sky's dome.

"Want to go to one?" Minho offered. Almost, playfully with the teasing glint in his eyes. When Jisung scrunched his face up in answer, in disgust at the situation and the insinuation that the teacher would enjoy such a thing, Minho quickly backpedaled, "Okay, no, you don't seem like the kind of guy to enjoy strip clubs. Hear me out though. Supposedly this friend of ours we found in Changbin's house, was hired temporarily by Athanasia Laboratories to do security detailing. That gives us a weird lead. But it tells us starting with the Laboratories might give us more information about whether or not they or their employees were involved with Changbin's kidnapped. I saw an interesting post online. A group of researchers from that facility we saw like partying. They like getting dancing, getting drunk, finding a partner..."

Gently, Jisung pushed another watermelon gummy past his lips. Chewing at the squishy texture with ease while he talked around the sweet flavor flooding his mouth, "Haven't you heard, 'Don't trust everything you see on the internet'?"

"What if I said there was validity behind it? That a few of these researchers have been spotted and posted online as friendly socialization?"

"So you want to find these researchers yourself?"

"Why not? Obviously, I can't walk up to them in a strip club and start interrogating them about the hottest scandal of the year, but they might know something we can follow or know someone who knows something," The bounty hunter surrendered a loose shrug to Jisung. Waiting until the teacher took another gummy for himself before he took the nearly empty bag of gummies away from him, "We might be able to pick up on a lead to whether or not the laboratories are involved, and if they hired someone else to finish the job on him if we can get insider information from the people who worked with Changbin."

Jisung made sure to send him a glare for taking his snacks away, but kept it professional as he asked, "But why a kidnapping...?"

"Let's give it a shot. They may not be related," Rolling up the bag, Minho pocketed the last of the gummies into his jacket, "But with no leads aside from some creepy men who followed us, it couldn't hurt to take a look."

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