Chapter Text
It was a rather tense moment, one early afternoon at Babel headquarters. Vincenzo and Cha Young decided to pay a visit to taunt their enemies about the upcoming lawsuit.
"Do you really think you can waltz right in here and start cracking jokes?" Myung-Hee gritted her teeth.
Cha Young scoffed, leaning forward but wincing when she noticed Han Seo's small flinch. "Do you really think you can win this lawsuit?"
Before the other could retaliate, the door opened swiftly and a cloud of purple dust filled the room.
They all coughed, the purple dust itching their throats. Han Seo,who was closest to the door, checked to see who was responsible but found himself falling off the couch. Once it cleared up, there was a lot of screaming from both parties.
"You're all younger!" Myung-Hee screeched.
"So are you!" Cha Young pointed to the woman who now had significantly less wrinkles, unaware of her new preteen body.
"Calm down! We won't get anywhere by fighting." Vincenzo yelled, ordering silence when his voice cracked.
He was now quite short and had much more of a baby face, looking to be about sixteen.
He blushed, looking at Han Seo. "Why are you so much younger?"
Immediately everyone looked at a little boy in Han Seo's suit and gasped. He was tiny with large doe eyes and as he stood up from the ground, he didn't even reach his brother's knees.
"Maybe becuz I wuz da cwoses'?" His high pitched voice shakily suggested.
Han Seok snorted at his sloppy speech, not noticing the glare it got him from Cha Young.
"First, let's go to somewhere safer. I can have a place ready by the time we get there." Vincenzo pulled out his phone. "I hate to say it but you all better stay with us too. We don't know what the hells just happened and we might not be safe."
Meanwhile, the others inspected their bodies and once Han Seok was finished, he headed over to Han Seo, who's neck was beginning to hurt from looking up at everyone else.
"Whoa, you're so tiny now! I could literally just step on you." He peered down at the boy.
Han Seo said nothing, afraid his fear would show in his voice.
"Han Seo, I could drop kick you like a football at this height." He said before grabbing Han Seo and lifting him high up in the air.
Han Seo squeaked as he was thrown up and down in the air, almost hitting the ceiling.
"Sir, is everything alri-" a secretary walked in, letting out a scream at the scene.
"We're doing very well, thank you very much. Please leave and ignore what you just saw unless you don't value your life." Han Seok calmly answered, still holding Han Seo by his arm and letting him dangle.
The woman hastily left without a word as Han Seok turned to Vincenzo. "My house is safer. We should go there."
"Is that why it was so easy to break in?" Vincenzo retorted, snatching Han Seo out of the others arms and letting Han Seo sit comfortably on his hip.
"Give him back." Han Seok stepped forward.
"When you learn how to hold a kid properly then I will."
Han Seo's relaxation did not escape the man who's arms he was sat in. Before Han Seok could try something again, Vincenzo pulled out a phone and dialed a number one handed.
The others awkwardly looked at each other whilst the man spoke in rapid Italian as if the situation was completely natural.
After a few minutes, he ended the call and turned to the others. "We're going to need a car or two."
"We can borrow one of the company minivans." Han Seok led the way to the parking lot, still angry that Vincenzo was holding his little brother.
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The drive was approximately going to take two hours and Han Seo had fallen asleep within the first ten minutes of being squished in between Vincenzo and Myung-Hee.
Han Seok got ready to wake him up whilst they were at a red light when Vincenzo grabbed his hand, lowering his voice. "He's a kid, remember? He probably needs more sleep and if he wakes up he'll start throwing a tantrum. Do you really want him kicking and yelling for over an hour?"
"Whatever, I'll get him to shut up." Han Seok snickered, not believing him.
"That won't work. He won't be thinking clearly and you'll ruin the whole journey for everyone including yourself." Vincenzo growled, his eyes softening when Han Seo shuffled in his sleep.
The drive was silent until a police car had pulled them over.
"Ah shit. What are we doing wrong?" Han Seok groaned.
"Han Seok, use your authority or whatever to get rid of him." Cha Young huffed from the back.
Han Seok rolled down the window, glaring at the middle aged officer who was clearly not expecting to see the chairman.
"O-oh, Mr Chairman! What a surprise!" He stuttered.
Han Seok nodded his head. "Yeah yeah. So can we go?"
The man hastily nodded. "O-of course, sir! Sorry for disturbing you. I-its just that norm-mally you'd be fined 60,000 won under the i-improper children and the handicapped protection traffic violation. Th-the child needs to be in a car seat, you see. Though I imagine you have an explanation and therefore you can just b-be on your way."
They all turned to look at Han Seo, who had just woken up. Han Seok nodded, not letting the man carry on with his attempt to suck up to him as he rolled the windows down.
They started driving again in a tense silence.
"Sir, to avoid being stopped again it might be in our best interest to comply with the law. This way if we are getting followed or something no fake police officers will have a reason to stop us or take us somewhere."
"What, like pretend to arrest us?" He tilted his head.
"Exactly that. I doubt this was not the work of an individual. The possibility of this being some freak accident is far too low."
An extra few minutes was added on since now they needed to visit a store. The group stayed in the car whilst Myung-Hee bought a car seat for Han Seo, who had woken up some time ago and was silently trailing behind her.
However, when she looked back to test it out she realised she was alone.