Chapter Text
“Yah! Don’t let him get away!”
“Come back here, you thief!”
“Calling reinforcements in Fear Museum, I repeat, reinforcements in Fear Museum! Station yourselves at the entrance!”
The shouting is always normal in a chase, this one is no different. What makes this different is the thrill, the mood of the chase. An aphrodisiac for him, that sends adrenaline to pump vigorously in his veins as his legs run as fast as they could. He could feel his leg muscles throbbing from the intense chase, but he didn't mind. The excitement the game of tag brings for him - he could always get high off that feeling.
He could already see the exit outside, the reinforced police already waiting for him. As soon as they saw the phantom thief running outside, they got their taser guns and handcuffs ready to arrest him, but he always knew those would go in vain. Looking up, he saw the camouflaged ship above their heads, grabbing the grappling hook from his pocket and shooting it up, estimating where the hull of the ship would be, so he wouldn’t accidentally pop the ship’s disguise, and he would have to aim it again.
He felt his feet lift off from the ground, police struggling to grab him and pull him down to be captured. Numerous sighs and complaints erupted from the crowd of police, sending a small chuckle to escape his lips. They never really learn from their mistakes, do they?
A ladder was released, and the phantom thief grabbed it, making sure to hold tightly onto the treasure he stole. The Diamond Violin - a treasure to behold. The expensive wooden instrument, with strong wires forged out of diamond for the string, and rose quartz to decorate the actual instrument. No wonder it was the Fear Museum’s most guarded exhibition.
When he reached the inside of the hull after climbing a few steps, he was met with another phantom thief, his glaringly red hair making it obvious that he was present. He wasn’t wearing his mask, though, he doesn’t tend to wear it unless he’s on a heist. He was wearing his usual clothes however - a dull red waistcoat and a pristine white vest, black trousers, and his signature Inverness cape with infinity symbols rimming the cape. Aside from that, he also wore boots with buckles, golden rings on either side of his hands, fedora set aside on another table. The attire made him look like a 1880’s Victorian man, despite him being Chinese.
“There you are, hyung.” He sighed. “What took you so long?”
“Sorry, I got caught up with the police.” The blonde chuckled. “Accidentally activated their trap, so I was in for a wild goose chase.”
“ Accidentally ? You mean, purposely.” The red-haired male rolled his eyes. “Seriously, Woozi, you have to stop activating traps purposely. It just makes the whole heist a mess.”
“Firstly, it’s Jihoon. Secondly, it’s hyung to you. Thirdly, we’re phantom thieves, for crying out loud! What’s the notice for if we’re not gonna activate any traps? You tell me, Xu Minghao.”
Minghao huffed. “Whatever. You win this time, hyung. Just be lucky that I don’t have any new funky breathing styles for me to use against you.” The younger proceeded to walk towards Jihoon and snatched the violin from his hands, then trudged towards the treasure room, where the two keep all their stolen treasures.
Jihoon rolled his eyes and chuckled, before walking to the TV and turning it on. The current show, which was a comedy show, immediately got interrupted with the news. A stern-looking news reporter flashed on screen, the feature of the news flashing in its big red font.
“This just in! Phantom Thief Woozi strikes again! The Diamond Violin was stolen by said phantom thief, and he succeeded in doing so!” The woman spoke from the studio.
“Oh? You made the news, hyung.” Minghao sounded amused.
“One of the police called me ‘thief’, Minghao.” Jihoon hissed, his tone sounding a little more venomous than he intended. “Me, a thief? If he placed a ‘phantom’ before the ‘thief’, then I'd be much happier.”
“Imagine being called a thief.” Jihoon could practically hear Minghao roll his eyes. “I was called a burglar while stealing an artwork from the art museum! Like, it's basically a thief, but way off!”
Minghao’s a friend of Jihoon, phantom thief alike. He’s more interested in stealing artwork rather than objects like hourglasses and jewelry, as he thinks artworks are more precious than jewelry. Unlike jewelry or precious objects, authentic artworks can’t really be replicated exactly - especially when the original artist is dead. That’s why Minghao’s title, besides being known as Phantom Thief The8, is also known for being called ‘Phantom of the Art Museum’, which, according to Minghao himself, is a cheesy title. A ripoff of the Phantom of the Opera, but way worse, Minghao once said.
Minghao wasn’t the type of person to get mad easily. So seeing him pissed off at being called burglar than phantom thief, he knows that they pushed Minghao’s buttons.
“Phantom thieves always suffer from being called something other than a phantom thief.” Jihoon mumbled.
Minghao nodded. “Ah, anyways, what do you wanna do, now that you have the Diamond Violin?”
“Dunno. Wanna visit the others?” Jihoon stood up from the couch, the reporter spewing out other news, so he wasn’t interested at whatever the fuck the anchor was talking about. “Kinda interested in what treasures they stole.”
“Sure. Probably in a cafe or something.” Minghao copied Jihoon’s actions and stood up as well. Jihoon and Minghao parted ways, the older going to the bridge and typing in inputs to fly to the nearest cafe, while Minghao went to his room to dial the others for a meet up.
Being a phantom thief isn’t what Jihoon always wanted. In fact, little Jihoon once dreamed of becoming a musician, seeing as his musical talent always exceeds. Though, an incident that happened under a moonless night made him switch dreams, a dream into becoming a phantom thief. And he did. He’s now running here and there, stealing treasure after treasure, and making the police look like a measly force that can’t deal with phantom thieves.
“I called the others,” Minghao called from his room. “They agreed.”
“Perfect.” Jihoon let a small smile appear on his lips. “I hope Seokmin didn’t steal any weird shit. Like, I get he likes those odd trinkets and all, but who would steal someone’s kid drawing?! From a museum, no less!”
“What’s in a museum is a precious thing. According to Seokmin, that is.” Minghao chuckled from the other side, seemingly hearing Jihoon’s monologue. “Anyways, we’re here I believe.”
“That fast?”
“I had some people install new engines in the ship so it can fly faster.” Minghao smiled. Jihoon shook his head. He knew he could always rely on Minghao.
The ship slowly sank down into a nearby empty meadow, where the ship deployed a car from its garage. Jihoon and Minghao quickly changed clothes - Jihoon wearing a sky blue cardigan and white shirt, as well as washed jeans and black sneakers to blend in. Same case with Minghao - he was wearing a inky black blazer and white collared shirt, black trousers and leather boots as well as a simple diamond necklace. Which, in fact, was real.
Since Jihoon didn’t bother getting a license, Minghao would be the one behind the wheel. The two hopped onto the car and drove into the city.
“The city’s pretty peaceful, y’know.” Jihoon mused, putting on sunglasses to make him look cooler (despite it being nighttime).
“You’re lucky that I found a nearby cafe that’s open 24/7.” Minghao grumbled.
“That’s hyung to you.” Jihoon reminded the Chinese. If someone were to describe Jihoon and Minghao’s relationship, it would be similar to Tom and Jerry. Constantly fighting, however always working together as well.
“Ah, we’re here.” Minghao slowly parked the car in the designated parking spot, the two climbing out of the car and walking to the neon-lit cafe. Their other phantom thief friends were outside, already chatting away with cups of coffee in their hands (Jihoon knows that coffee during nighttime is bad for one’s health, but they’re phantom thieves, they always operate at night). When they caught sight of Jihoon and Minghao, they waved in greetings.
“Hi hyung!” The tallest smiled sunnily, like a blinding light in a dark night. He was wearing a cream-colored vest and white collared shirt, with washed jeans and white sneakers topping off the lock. Along with the silver rings on his fingers and his dual piercings on either side of his ears, he looks similar to a college student. Only, he’s really not. “How are you?”
“I’m doing good. Just stole a treasure again, got onto the news again.” Jihoon scoffed.
“We saw, hyung.” The second laughed softly. He was wearing an ebony colored coat and black shirt inside, as well as white trousers and leather shoes. The buttons on the coat had a marble design, gold clashing with black to create a noble look. “That was impressive .”
“Oh, yeah, most certainly.” The third chimed in. He had a beret on his mop of brown hair, a denim jacket and matching denim pants, along with some blue sneakers. “Anyways, why did you ask us to meet up here?”
“Just curious about the recent treasures that have been stolen.” Minghao exchanged knowing gazes with the three. “Anyways,” his voice became a hushed whisper. “What did you steal recently? Seokmin?”
“The kid painting of Napoleon I told you about.” Seokmin chuckled. Jihoon and Minghao both slapped their foreheads simultaneously, earning a complaint from said phantom thief. “Look okay, you know I’m into odd things right?! I just find them…fascinating.”
“Sure.” The second male mused.
“Hansol? What about you? And, I mean, I should ask Chan too, since you two go on heists together.” Jihoon looked at the duo.
“We stole the Carat Hourglass.” Hansol said with a smile. “You couldn’t believe the mass amounts of fortification there was!”
“It was tough as fuck, hyung.” Chan said with open eyes. “Lasers are quite about everywhere, police stationed here and there, god - you wouldn’t even imagine the level of security there was.”
“You did it, though.” Minghao mused, tone proud of the two youngest.
Hansol nodded with a gummy smile. “Mhm! We did.”
“Anyways, me and Hansol-hyung were thinking of a grand heist we can partake in!” Chan exclaimed. Jihoon was quite interested. Usually, phantom thieves would go solo, unless they have a sidekick, of course, but phantom thieves working together? Preposterous!
Unless, you’re not friends with one. And Jihoon was friends with not one, not two, but four.
“What heist?” Seokmin tilted his head like a puppy, hazel eyes shining with interest.
“I’m glad you asked.” Chan then took out a rolled piece of paper and unraveled it onto the table. Before their eyes laid a picture of a beautiful object - a circlet that was made to look like a halo of angel wings. The circlet had diamonds, crystals, jewels galore - and feathers to make it look like authentic feathers from an actual angel. The structure mimics those of how laurel-leaved crowns were made, but Jihoon knew he had his eyes sparkle in amusement.
“What the…” Minghao whispered under his breath. “This is…breathtaking.”
“We’re going to steal this .” Jihoon could hear Hansol smirking, but the older was too indulged with the jewelry they were about to steal to look at the phantom thief. “It’s called the Halo of Angels, befittingly, and legends say that, to this day, there have been remnants of magic stored inside the circlet. It’s very sought after by thieves and burglars alike, and now sits on top of a velvet cushion in the Semicolon Museum.”
“Magic?” Seokmin’s eyes sparkled even more. “Woah, I really need to have this.”
“The main problem with this isn’t about who gets to keep the treasure - it’s obvious, it’s going to be Minghao and Jihoon-hyung - but it’s who we’re going to rival.”
“Rival?” Minghao furrowed his brows. “We also have another competitor? Why didn’t we receive a notice?”
“No no, not from a phantom thief, I hope, but from Professor 1004.” Jihoon visibly cringed at the name.
Professor 1004, a well-known professor and head of Institute 1004. True to his name, he loves collecting trinkets anywhere related to angels, or heavenly beings, despite him being devilishly evil and relentless in getting what he wants. He has his own slew of phantom thieves, actual trained ones, in fact. Jihoon doesn’t know the whole team (or their names, but he hoped there weren’t anymore, Professor 1004’s phantom thief team had enough in quantity) but he did meet a few while stealing other treasures - he met Joshua while stealing Melody of Serenity (which, is a harp rumored to be played by angels), he then met Jun whilst stealing the Vial of Angelic Tears, Hoshi while heisting for the robes from an angel (didn’t really have a specific name, actually), and S.Coups while thieving for the Eye of Heaven (which, is just a glorified telescope that rumors to be built by angels long time ago).
S.Coups. That name sends white hot rage into Jihoon’s system. The other phantom thieves knew that Jihoon and S.Coups had a long-standing rivalry together - the Eye of Heaven was a treasure stolen 7 years ago, so they have been enemies for a good amount of time.
“Hello? Earth to Jihoon?” Minghao waved a hand in front of his eyes.
“That’s hyung to you.” Jihoon reminded the Chinese, who only rolled their eyes in response.
“Anyways, we need to do this as quickly as possible.” Seokmin continued. “Or not, Institute 1004 will catch up with us. Though, we need preparation, of course-”
“Why don’t we do it now?” Chan perked up. Seokmin looked at the younger male with an unamused face.
“Chan - are you fucking me right now.” The older muttered.
“What- ew, hyung, suppress your horny thoughts. I’m aroace, for crying out loud.”
“No- not like that!” Seokmin’s face turned red, resulting in him using his hands to hide his face out of embarrassment. “I mean, are you ridiculous?!”
“What? With the sudden heist?”
“What else am I talking about?!”
“Guys, guys, chill.” Hansol wedged himself between Seokmin and Chan’s heated debate. “Anyways, you were saying, Seokmin-hyung?”
“ As I was saying, you are crazy, Lee Chan.” Seokmin continued. “Like, all of a sudden?”
“Hyung, hear me out.” Chan smirked. “We’re phantom thieves! We make miracles happen! Batshit-insane fortification? No problem!”
“I agree.” Minghao chuckled, nodding as well. “As Chan said, we’re phantom thieves. Doing the impossible in the most outrageous of times is the spirit of our ways!”
“Fine, but don’t blame me if we get captured.” Seokmin grumbled.
“Good then.” Chan beamed, then stood up from the table. “One problem though. Whose ship?”