Chapter Text
The sun beat down on the pavement outside of the van that Jaebum and Jinyoung sat in across the street from a large and impressive house.
“Are you ready?” Jinyoung asked carefully watching inside through the security cameras. “It’s nearly time.” Jaebum watched the house silently for a moment longer before turning to Jinyoung with a nod.
“Alright just get in, grab what you need, and get back out,” Jinyoung said, turning to look at Jaebum seriously. “We can’t have you getting caught again. I don’t have the money to post bail.”
Jaebum glared at Jinyoung from the seat next to him. He picked up the duffel bag at his feet and exited the van, closing the door with a little too much force on his way out. He walked up to the front porch, set his bag on the stoop and unzipped it.
Looking around quickly to make sure that he wasn’t being watched, he pulled a lock pick set from the bag before squatting down to work on the door. The small com in his ear buzzed softly as Jinyoung turned his end on.
“Can you be any more conspicuous you fucking criminal?” his voice crackled. Jaebum huffed and ignored the nagging. Before long, the door swung open to reveal the overly decorated entryway.
“I’m in,” Jaebum muttered with a grin, stashing the lockpick set back in the duffle. Swinging it over his shoulder, he pushed the door open.
“You picked a lock,” Jinyoung retorted, “you didn’t hack into the CIA.” Jaebum rolled his eyes, carefully stepping over the threshold and entering the still entryway. Jaebum softly crept toward the voices that wafted down the stairs from where the owners of the house were hosting their daytime guests. He and Jinyoung had memorized the house’s layout, so he knew the way to the master bedroom that held the heavy safe that contained what they wanted.
He softly walked across the thickly carpeted hallway, inching silently toward the closed bedroom door. The door, much like the rest of the house, was immaculate and Jaebum felt like an alarm would be triggered when he touched the handle, but nothing happened as he gently pushed the door open.
The room was massive and beautiful, an expensive chandelier hung above the huge bed at the center of the room. A jewelry box containing, no doubt, a large sum of money in diamonds sat out on the vanity across from the bed. Jaebum ignored all of this, instead focusing on the closet where he knew that the safe would be hidden.
“What’s the safe combination?” he whispered to Jinyoung as he softly approached the closet.
“It’ll be open,” was the only response Jaebum got before a white hot pain shot through his head and the world went entirely black.
~~~~
“Okay so listen, all you have to do is hack into the school system and raise his grades and we’re done. Plus his family has a lot of money, easy pay,” Bambam said after hanging up the phone. He stood across the small living room, grinning at Yugyeom who sat sullenly on the couch.
“Exactly, that’s the point. I can do so much more than hack into some low security school system,” Yugyeom shot back, scowling as he opened his laptop.
Bambam made his way across the room to stand behind Yugyeom. He draped himself over the back of the couch and rested his chin on Yugyeom’s shoulder, wrapping his arms lazily around Yugyeom in a loose hug. He watched silently as Yugyeom typed quickly, not really understanding what was going on on the screen, but content watching him no less.
“I have so much more potential than this, and yet we are working 2 cent jobs for whiny, entitled, snotty brats,” he muttered as he went in and changed the grades.
“Just think,” Bambam said, gently patting Yugyeom’s chest without detaching himself from the hug, “soon enough we will be able show the world exactly what a sick hacker and an actual people person can do.”
“Can’t you find us any real jobs, people person” Yugyeom whined loudly, slamming his computer closed as he finished the job; he turned to face Bambam with a scowl.
“I don’t care how much it pays,” he said crossing his arms and shrugging out of Bambam’s hold, “I refuse to do to do anymore of these stupid jobs.”
“What do you want from me?” Bambam whined, folding himself in half over the back of the couch. He turned his head to look at Yugyeom, pouting dramatically. “It’s not my fault not. I can’t help it that actual criminals aren’t calling us to offer actual work because they all think that we are just some kids who can’t even drink yet. These little jobs are what are going to establish our reputation.”
“You could get a job,” Yugyeom said, pulling him over the back of the couch with a laugh. Bambam rolled over, landing with a huff before pushing himself off the ground to stand, crossing his arms at Yugyeom.
“And ruin the look I have of a rich, entitled teenager who never gets off his ass?” he said, flippantly pushing back his hair.
“You’re not a teennager,” Yugyeom deadpans.
“Eh, close enough.” Bambam shrugged, dusting off his obnoxiously colorful pants. “I’ll go let the client know that the job is done, and I guess also try to get us some real jobs.”
“Please do,” Yugyeom said with a sigh, opening his laptop back up as Bambam rolled his eyes and left the room.
~~~~
Jackson pulled the oversized black hoodie over his head and flipped the hood up. Shoving his hands into the pocket, he felt the cold metal of his knife. With quiet, sure steps, he started down the street toward the building where his targets were. It was a clear night, and Jackson was eager to do the job after having so long been without work.
Upon reaching the building he rolled his eyes and sighed. Of course it was a warehouse. Where else would the low life criminals of the city be? Jackson begrudgingly stepped over the threshold into the dank warehouse.
“How cliche can these people be,” he muttered to himself, his heavy, black combat boots echoing through the empty room. The hair on the back of his neck stood up on end and he slowed slightly, straining his ears to try and hear whatever had caused his discomfort. Hearing the quiet click of the safety of a gun, he sighed and swung around to grab the wrist of the person behind him, causing them to drop the gun they had been holding to the back of his head.
“God,” Jackson said, unloading the gun, pocketing the clip, and throwing the gun across the room. “Fucking amateurs.” He slammed the man into a wall and presses his knife against his neck.
“Where is your boss,” Jackson demanded, doing his best to sound intimidating instead of bored. “Tell me before I slit your useless throat.” The petrified man held his trembling hand in the direction of a corridor that seemed to lead to an office of sorts. Jackson let out a huff of laughter and then plunged the knife into the man’s neck, watching in fascination as blood splattered onto the dirty concrete.
“Nobody likes a snitch,” he muttered, stooping down to carve a ‘J’ in the man’s cheek. He stepped over the body after wiping the blood off of his knife onto the man’s shirt. He put his hands back into the hoodie pocket and lowered his head, effectively obscuring his face with the hood, before continuing casually down the corridor.
When he reached the door at the end of the hall, he studied it for a moment before deciding to simply knock on the door. There was grunt from the other side followed by a string of curse words before the door swung open to reveal a very overweight man with an angry, red face and a receding hairline dressed in a cheap suit. The smell of cheap cigarettes drifted out of the room from behind the man.
“What did I tell y-” he started but abruptly stopped when he caught sight of the intimidating figure looming in front of him. “Who are you?” the man spat when he regained his composure. Jackson thought for a moment about how cliche this entire situation was before smirking.
“My name is J-Flawless and I am currently your worst nightmare,” he said in his most intimidating voice, doing his best to hold back his own laughter. “You’ve pissed off the wrong people, my friend.” At this, the man began to laugh.
“And what are you going t-” he couldn’t even finish his sentence before the blade of Jackson’s knife plunged into his neck, cutting him off.
“Really?” Jackson mumbled, bending over his body to carve a ‘J’ into the man’s cheek. “How cliche can you get?” He wiped the blood of the knife off on the sleeve of the man’s cheap suit jacket before standing up and making his way out of the warehouse.
~~~~
Mark sat atop a tall, abandoned building entirely hidden by the night, the only light coming from the sliver of a moon hanging above his head. He looked through the scope of the rifle into a window of a building across the street. The lights in the room were off, but with the scope he was able to make out all the furniture in the room, and most importantly, his target.
He steadied his breathing as he lined up the shot, the crosshairs of his sight across the target’s skull. He breathed in deeply, and, as he steadily exhaled, squeezed the trigger, sending the bullet traveling across the space in between the buildings and through the skull of the target.
Mark watched as the blood splattered across the room. He quickly sat up and began to disassemble his sniper rifle by the light of the moon. As he took off each piece he hastily set it in its proper place in the case. When he finished, he slung the locked case over his shoulder, standing to make his way off of the roof. His phone buzzed in his pocket, interrupting his descent on the rusty fire escape.
“What’s up?” he answered, slowing his pace.
“Yo, it’s Jackson. Want to get some food or something? I’m starving.”
“Sounds good to me, where do you want to go and when?” Mark asked, hopping off the end of the fire escape onto the street. Adjusting his grip on his phone, he began to make his way down the street.
“How about that one Korean barbecue place that’s near you?” he asked, as Mark waved for a cab and climbed in.
“Sure, sounds good. I can be there in like 20 minutes.” Mark responded, fiddling with the strap of the rifle case.
“ Isn’t the place only like a 5 minute walk from your apartment? Where are you man? ” Jackson asked, sounding genuinely confused. Mark stuttered over his response, startled by the question.
“I... uh... had to drop something off at a friend’s house,” Mark quickly answered. Jackson laughed loudly in Mark’s ear.
“You have friends other than me?” He cackled.
“Well Jinyoung, but it was a different friend,” Mark defended indignantly. Mark could almost hear the sound of Jackson pouting over the phone.
“You mean to tell me that Jinyoung and I aren’t good enough for you? Do we not satisfy all of your needs? ” he sniffed.
“I’ll see you in 20 minutes,” Mark laughed before hanging up.
He sat in the car smiling at Jackson’s antics. Soon enough though, the smile had slipped from his face as memories of the heinous thing he had just done for money started to play through his mind.
~~~~
Youngjae sat at his desk, his lamp illuminating his textbook and notes in front of him. His alarm clock showing the time brightly on his nightstand. 3:45 am.
Youngjae raked his hand through his hair as he looked at his calendar. Exams everyday for the next couple of weeks and the KMLE so near. He grabbed his mug and tried to take a sip only to find that it was empty. Sighing he pushed himself to his feet and trudged out to the small kitchen to get more coffee.
After he refilled his mug and was making his way back to his room, he had the thought that Jaebum should have been home already. Pushing his worries aside, he opted to instead focus on his textbook sprawled in front of him.
“Cephalosporins side effects include nausea, diarrhea, rash, pain and inflammation at injection site...” Youngjae mumbled reading from his textbook as he wrote down notes from it.
He glanced at the clock again. 3:56. Jaebum should definitely be home by now.