Chapter Text
Kim William wiped the empty syringe quickly, wiping off any fingerprint before putting it back into his inner thigh strap.
He then left the dead body on the bed, checking out everything before calmly opening the oak door and walked into the corridor. He was dressed as a high class call girl today, with Shanghai-collar, body-tight, long-tailed black silk cheongsam, with slit up to his left hips; and he looked like he belonged in that part of the hotel. The expensive carpet muffled the sound of his footsteps, before he entered the elevator and positioned his back to the security camera. The long haired brunette wig he wore also strategically hid the shape of his body, making him even more feminine. His hourglass body shape made his silhouette the best crossdresser and infiltrators in his Agency. William also knew that the camera was already hacked by his team, but he could always be more careful and cast his hip up to create even more shapely hips for the camera.
William usually didn’t care much about his victim, and this one was no different. William was told this man was a perverted CEO of an Idol producing company with an over-inflated ego. This man was sort of famous in public, but he was even more well known behind the scene as a pimp who sold innocent kids who applied to his company as trainees for idols, actors or models. He forced the kids to sleep with high-paying clients while keeping them hooked on drugs so they had no chance to leave or dared to tell others. Most of them didn’t even end up as idols or whatever their dream was, and became overdosed corpses instead. For this man, those kids were just goods to exploit and used till the last drop.
He was also above the law with all the bribes and connections he had with the government officials and important crowds who used his services. This man was also a part of a close knitted network of human traffickers, which William and his Agency were trying to unravel.
His target might be despicable, but William knew he was no different from them as a contract killer himself, so he wouldn’t judge.
When he reached the ground floor, he went to the restroom and removed his wigs, pulled up some pants and an oversized hoodie, before pushing the wig into his hoodies. He changed his gait and walked away from the hotel lobby as if he was some rich boy who just left his expensive hotel room for the night. The night was calm and there were pedestrians walking along the busy roads. After making sure nobody was following him, William called his handler.
“I am done.” he spoke immediately when Hoshi took the call. “Where should I go next?”
“Come back to the den.” his handler sounded far away.
On the contrary of William’s actual job, his agency's was hidden in plain sight
The agency occupied a two story old building which was a kick away from collapsing. Located in a questionable neighbourhood, the building looked old and generic from the outside. The single ordinary brown wooden entrance bore a sign of a Bar called “SEVenteEN” hung on top of it. The sign never failed to make William huffed in amusement. The spelling abnormality was deliberately made by his seniors, since they were all crazy like that.
The bar was quite different from other bars of the same kind. Usually people would expect a dark, dingy bar with timeless elegant ambiance especially for Agency Headquarters parading as a run down bar. SEVenteEN Bar was a bright, industrialist space with wooden pallets as chairs or tables and an open bar concept. With better lighting, it might even work as a trendy cafe. Even the menu (consisting of ice creams of all kinds, carbs, selections of teas or coffee and only three types of alcohol) showed how SEVenteEN was a disgrace to all the bars in the world.
Since they needed to hide the fact that it was an agency headquarters, they accepted some civilians visitors to their bar from time to time. However, they also deliberately make the food awful and the drinks badly made to ensure no one would return there. Also there would be at least one person tending to the bar at all times, and all of them required to wear fake glasses.
“Welcome back!” Jun Hyung called up to him. When one looked closer, the beautiful Chinese-descent man looked mesmerising with his apron while polishing the juice glass. Even his shabby apron and fake glasses couldn't hide his beauty. Yet Jun Hyung looked so unassuming and normal that people just wouldn't look twice. Blending in with his surroundings was Jun's speciality which William admired.
William walked towards the elder, “I am back, Hyung.”
“You did a good job, Baby.” the blond man rubbed William’s hair. William grimaced because Jun kept using his childish nickname within the Agency. True, he was the last to join and the smallest in both age and build. Even Woozi Hyung , their tech lord, was taller by half a centimetre compared to him. William’s juvenile complexion and takoyaki cheeks didn’t help too, securing the place as the smallest Baby within the Agency.
But his annoyance evolved into a small smile when Jun Hyung pushed a cup of mint choco ice cream in front of him. “My treat.”
William grabbed the cup and ate his fill. He knew mint chocolate ice cream was a rare commodity within SEVenteEN bar, since nobody outside him, Mingyu Hyung and Jeonghan Eomma ate it. The rest viewed mint choco as the bane of their existences. Jun Hyung must have prepared it specially for him.
“You can smile more, you know.” Jun Hyung smiled while watching his littlest team member eat the ice cream in gusto. “You are still young, enjoy your life more.”
“Tell that to Dad and Mom.” William huffed. Jun laughed and rubbed his hair more, before leaving him to enjoy his meal. But before William could focus back to his ice cream, he was engulfed in a familiar tight hug by his handler.
“Baby! You are back!” Hoshi Hyung, his blonde handler, screamed in his ear. William accepted the hug readily, tilting his head to keep the ice cream from spilling. “Good job! Who is the best Baby in the world? Yes, you are!”
William almost blushed. “Hyung, please stop treating me like your pet.”
“No, of course not! You are our Baby!” Hoshi Hyung rubbed his cheek onto William’s. William tried to push his Handler away, but he was definitely weaker compared to the older, taller man. William might be already 22 years old, but his Handler Hyung was older and more experienced with better and more trained build.
Hoshi Hyung might look like a cheerful hamster, but his nickname “Horangi” (Tiger) was a fit nickname whenever he was in the field. His strength and instinct more than made up what he lacked in self control. He was one of the best field agents they had so it was weird for him to handle William. But it was his direct request to Scoups Appa and Jeonghan Eomma (dubbed Dad and Mom, since they were in charge of leadership of the Agency), since Hoshi Hyung was really protective over the smaller members, especially William and Dino Hyung.
William knew he was still being protected by his Hyungs, so he was always eager to prove himself. He worked his best for all the cases he had been given so far. The current trash clean up has been his biggest case so far. And he was greedy to do more.
“What’s next, Hyung?”
Hoshi Hyung stopped smiling and turned to Jun Hyung. The older man shrugged and turned away, giving them some space.
“You can say no, alright? I don’t want to force you to do this.”
"I want to do it, Hyung. I am ready."
"This time it's rather different." Hoshi Hyung sighed. "This is rather long infiltration. I don't know whether we can let you go that long. It's too dangerous."
"Hyung, please," William grabbed Hoshi Hyung's hand. "You know I won't let you down."
Hoshi Hyung looked torn before nodding. He pulled William into the back room where they entered the elevator and moved up. "Fine. Here's what you need to do…"
It was different indeed.
Instead of infiltrating a mafia group or a corporation, Hoshi told William to infiltrate some sort of idol competition reality show called I-Land. Apparently they gathered 23 male trainees from all over the country and pitched them in a five stages reality show with harsh tasks and challenges. By each stage, there would be elimination done by either the jury, the contestants themselves or the live audiences. It was not a novel concept, but it was one of the biggest and most anticipated series of the year.
The show itself was produced by Be-Lift, one of the biggest in the industry of idols. William realised that the man he just killed was one of the CEOs, which means this show could be a breeding ground for new fresh meats for the despicable kids trafficking and exploitation. It was easy to persuade the 'losing' kids to take another 'lucky' chance by following the director's order to sell themselves. Meanwhile Be-Lift will also get a popular new group by the end of the season, which is win win for them and lose lose for everyone else.
The problem was William didn't know whether he could do it. He wasn't well versed in dancing or singing. He could do the traditional or burlesque dance no problem since he was trained for infiltration, but pop dance was another different level. He hated jumping or dancing with energy. His voice was sultry and distinctive. If he used it, some people might recognise him or even worse, he could be unable to do any more singing related infiltration because his voice was already broadcasted to the world.
But another Agent Hyung by the name The8 (but everybody called him Eisa) told him not to worry as he would give William a crash course in b-boying and rapping. He told William to stick with rap, and to focus his performance on expression instead. William dreaded that, since he was not good with expression. He hated showing his emotions freely and kept his expression as cold as he could, despite the urge from his Hyungs.
Seungkwan Hyung, their PR specialist, trained William on how to communicate using his whole body and manipulate his expressions. The blond Agent also showed William how to dress and make up like an eighteen years old boy who aspired to be an idol. After a quick request from Hoshi Hyung ("I want to see the cutest william!"), they decided to name him Kim Sunoo, with the personality of an innocent and bubbly sunshine, the kind that made people lower their guard and could get away with asking so many questions.
They created a sort of fake persona for Kim Sunoo, from social media accounts to videos of him practising dancing, eating ice cream or doing aegyo. It was very mortifying, especially since most of his thirteen Hyungs gathered whenever he was shooting the aegyo poses. Worst was Dad and Mom, who shed real tears while saying their baby was so cute. Meanwhile Mingyu Hyung, their resident handyman and documenter, did his magic and created five years worth of social media history that is so believable.
After a gruelling month of practice, styling and photo shooting, William was ready to infiltrate the show as Kim Sunoo. His usually slicked back hair was changed to short, cute bangs. His dry lips were now pouty and tinted red with cheap glossy lip tint. His usually black and white clothing changed to cute oversize jumpers with baggy pants. His equipment was inside his backpack; making him look even younger than eighteen. His cheeks were red, not because of blush on but because it had been pinched by all his Hyungs all morning.
He was ready and the whole thirteen of his Hyungs bid him goodbye from the front door.
Even though William was mortified, when he stepped outside the door, he turned into Kim Sunoo, the ethereal smiling sunshine. “I am going!”
“Good luck!” All his Hyungs shouted at the top of their lungs.
William looked around to silently watch the crowd around him.
They were just debriefed by the producer team, about the concept and rules. Apparently there was this special luxurious house called ‘I-Land’ in the middle of nowhere, with all amenities provided. William was very sure they had cameras in every corner to ensure maximum preview. He should check their bathroom, just in case. However there would be only 12 people residing inside the house at a given time, while the rest will commute to the venue daily from a plain dormitory called ‘Ground’ a kilometre away. It sort of gives the ‘preferential treatment’ for the winners, and alienates the losers. William knew it would be easy for the culprit to track and persuade the ‘losers’ to join him instead.
Maybe he should aim to be the loser, so he could bait them to talk to him. Or should he be inside the 12 winners, so that he could understand their whole plan?
At times like this, he really wanted to call his handler, but William knew it was his first long infiltration and he couldn’t show weakness, otherwise Hoshi Hyung wouldn’t trust him another time.
He kind of missed the explanation on who goes to the ‘I-Land’ or ‘Ground’ but he guessed it would depend on the producer's votes anyway. He pouted his lips and acted innocently clueless as the whole group were ushered to see the ‘I-Land’. William was arranged to walk with another two trainees. They looked young and fresh, ideal for the human trafficking. William also noted that they were pretty and sweet looking, just what the breeders wanted.
“Hi! I am Jake,” A boy with a great smile spoke with western accent. William blinked. The boy laughed awkwardly. “I don't know many Korean words, I am still learning.”
“Oh, where are you from?” William asked with a smile he has been keeping on his face since the moment he exited SEVenteEN Bar.
“I lived in Australia until nine months ago.” He answered sheepishly. “Let’s be friends!”
“Yes! My name is Kim Sunoo,” William greeted back with the same enthusiasm. “Please be my friend!”
The third member of their group joined in. “I am Lee Young Bin, call me Young Bin please! Nice to meet you two!”
William felt out of water with these two. He was raised in an orphanage with a hostile environment until Jeonghan Eomma took him in and trained him into the person he was now. Even though his Hyungs were friendly, they were treating him like a little brother and not a friend of the same level. And despite the laugh and silly smiles they had, all SEVenteEN members came with their own trauma and past, which makes them guarded in some way or the other.
On the contrary, these two boys were younger than him as well as too open for his likings. William could tear down these two boys in a minute. He could kill them or even manipulate them into doing something they never thought they could. They looked so young and open and happy . Sometimes it hurt William to think that there were people so lucky to have a great childhood in the world. And then he remembered why he was there, to prevent kids becoming like him.
So he kept his smile and entered the house with them. The building was very futuristic and designed as if it was a spaceship. William rolled his eyes because this design was so perfect to hide a camera. Nobody would realise a camera hidden behind the wooden plank or the lighting. How much have they invested into making this glorified horse stable?
The room he was ushered to was filled with 20 other trainees and all the jury. They were dark and spooky, just like the lair of traditional mafia headquarters he had the opportunity to infiltrate. He suddenly felt at ease. Hello darkness, his old friend.
Since they were the last participants to arrive and perform, William spent the time to closely watch everyone. He could see their eager eyes and worries about not being good enough. It was funny since William felt like they should be running away from here, instead of looking forward to being chosen.
The first one was a pass for William. Not really showing much. But he learned a lot on the voting, that everyone feels they need to be kind so they could expect others to be kind to them too. It was not voting based on ability, but based on probability of being a comrade. So he voted for everyone, just in case. He couldn't afford making enemies so early in the competition. His goal was to stay long enough and get proof of the disgusting human trafficking business, which would only come out after at least two elimination periods.
Jake looked very nervous, so ‘Sunoo’ cheered him up with a smile and commented he would do great. William himself knew who would make it to the top, judging on how they performed. The ace called ‘Lee Heesung’ and the 7th Sense duo ‘Park Jay’ and ‘Park Sunghoon’ seemed like a good bet too. They wouldn’t be chosen as human meat, so William decided to put his attention on everybody else.
Finally it was time for ‘Sunoo’ and team to perform. They were asked to perform on the stage. William knew he needed to at least perform in the middle range, so he wouldn’t get conspicuous. The song and movement itself was easy but William hated it because it was too cute and too energetic. But he kept his smile, just how The8 and Seungkwan Hyung told him to.
Jake and YoungBin performed quite well for a new trainee and kids of their age. William kept himself to match their energy, to keep himself on their level. He didn’t really mind whether he got into the ‘Ground’ or ‘I-Land’. Then as the song progressed, William noticed how both YoungBin and Jake became more and more nervous and forgot to smile. It might jeopardise his mission, so William took it to himself and let himself shine more. Smile, smile, smile. It was contagious. William knew that a smile made his whole face lit up. He also knew that his smile could also make his watcher smile and have a good feeling about them. Seungkwan Hyung told him so, and William would always put trust in his Hyungs.
“Be careful, be careful,” YoungBin called up, grasping on Sunoo’s hand. Sunoo, the pocket sized baby faced boy, was surprisingly steady with a sturdy balance.
“It’s so pretty, it feels like we are in a movie,” Jake exclaimed while watching his surroundings. Australia has its own share of forest, but Korea’s forest was quite different. He loved being there. He just couldn't believe his fate. One day he was playing soccer for his high school and the next he was there, becoming one of the trainees competing for a place in the debuting group.
The pure looking boy mumbled some illegible words in Korean that Jake couldn’t quite catch before squealing. Jake found him very cute. He looked younger than Jake, and with his excited scream, he did look like a baby. The other guy, YoungBin, was older than him. But he looked very excited as well.
“It’s gigantic!” The lovely boy giggled. “Also, the forest is so dense!”
“Wow, this is really the beginning.” Jake cheesily commented. “Let’s do our best!”
But the waiting was a torture. Jake couldn’t stop his legs from shaking. Sunoo also moved his body, looking around as if he wanted to see everything. It felt more curious than nervous. YoungBin was the only one with firm feet on the ground. “Let’s do our best, or we’ll regret it.”
Jake just nodded.
“Let's make them smile.” Sunoo commented, which made Jake strangely feel at ease. It was also weird that the boy wanted to make them smile, not to awe the jury. What a unique boy.
But Jake would also aim to smile if his smile was as mesmerising as Sunoo’s.
The dance was tiring so William opted to stay silent while keeping his smile. Unconsciously his body returned to his resting default, standing like a cabaret singer with hips to the side and legs stretched out. He looked around, watching the faces around him. Some were good, others average. He could see the winners and contenders, based on how they performed before him. There was one person who performed so awful William couldn’t hide his grimace. But he quickly collected his expression again, hoping nobody caught it.
Jake seemed to get voted into the ‘I-Land’. Good for him.
Now, he watched the jury as they talked between each other. They were some popular idols (RaIn and Zico), Storyteller (NamGoong Min) and producer (Bang Shi Hyuk). They looked unassuming and normal. Who knew behind their masks, they actually pimped out these boys to the highest bidder. Seungkwan’s scolding voice rang in his head, reminding him to keep his emotion and expression steady. So he smiled again.
When he looked around him, a lot of the trainees’ eyes were on him and they were blushing.
What did he miss?
When his result was out, he almost screamed. They were chosen anonymously between all the trainees, so a person could have 0 to 22 votes. The highest voted 12 trainees will be in ‘I-Land’. And he got 20 votes out of 22.
That meant he got 20 of these boys voting for him.
HOW? WHY? WHAT?
But there should only be 12 places available.
So he pouted and waited. Just as he guessed, another elimination vote was held. This time he could see that it was no longer ‘I scratched your back-you scratch mine’, but ‘everything for oneself’. William tried to make himself look as harmless as possible. True to his guess, he was the first to be eliminated to the ‘Ground’.
Perfect.
William almost smiled but he quickly changed it into sad pout and downcast eyes. It was what he wanted, afterall.
But he would be lying if he said a part of him didn’t want to be eliminated. William quickly wiped his disappointment and his attention seeker tendency. It was hard to kill especially if he lived with other thirteen Hyungs who are amazing and way better than you.
William truly wondered why he was there.
The makeup and hairdo Noonas were very excited when they saw him. They kept touching his face and pinching his cheek, just like what Hyung did. He tried to smile and bear with it, but it just made them even more excited. They also styled his hair almost like he was back to William and not Sunoo, so he encouraged them to keep the bangs and hairstyle so that he stayed young.
They commented how jealous they were of his skin elasticity, and how good Sunoo has been taking care of his skin. William smiled while crying inside. Of course he took care of his skin, he was a 22 years old infiltration specialist who made a living killing people by seducing them. His skin was not just his face, but also his mask.
They also commented on his perfect hourglass shape. No less than three Noonas tried to hug his waist, stating he had the body of a goddess. Maybe they should dress him in a belly dancer dress instead of the standard I-Land uniform. Excuse THEM? William wanted to scream, but his smile remained polite. Of course he knew he had good proportions, afterall he was the only one in SEVenteEN who could rock a figure hugging chinese dress. But why would a boy emphasise his small waist just because these Noonas wanted to make him show off his bellybutton!?
When he was ready for the photoshoot, he got the first turn, so he managed to watch around after him. The crew looked normal enough, hired professionally just for the photoshoot. There was not much suspicious personnel, but the Storyteller NamGoong Min was there sitting like a VIP while observing them. William had the hunch that the man was selecting livestock for his business instead of assessing their visuals.
Some of the trainees made the mistake of trying to look cool or too cute. Sunoo could see that they would get mostly photoshopped. Since he was first and he didn’t want to be too cute, he coincidentally created the standard where the rest of the group also shoot with cold, smile-less poses. He was very used to photoshoots (thanks to his Mingyu Hyung), so his turn was considerably quick. He didn’t even smile and just used his default bitch face. The photographer even commented how photogenic ‘Sunoo’ was, how easy he was to direct, and how his persona was so ‘cool’ on camera. William realised how he failed to keep his sunshine character, so he tried to smile for the remainder of the day.
Somehow it created a round of followers around him. One by one, the followers of the group gathered around him. Their place became the most crowded part of the room. Some trainees who are clearly introverts and loners (most of them from ‘I-Land’ winners too) scattered by themselves around the room, but no less than fifteen people chose to sit around ‘Sunoo’. They all greeted each other and him, then noted they liked his smile and he seemed like the friendliest out of the bunch.
HOW? William wanted to scream. ARE YOU ALL BLIND.
But his face betrayed nothing, and so he maintained his facade as the innocent extrovert boy with an endless smile. He had newfound respect for Joshua Hyung who maintained his gentleman smile at all times of the day, even when he was dismembering people.
Yes, he should maintain his calm like Joshua Hyung. It was only the first day and William already felt he could die from mortification soon.
What a joke.
After the photoshoot, one of the trainee called out to William.
Jungwoon was a cute boy who looked like a cat. They never talked much, just introducing themselves to each other before, so William was surprised the boy actually pulled him aside. He was even more surprised when the boy suddenly bowed down low and apologised.
“I am very sorry!”
Feeling out of water, William tilted his head. “Why are you apologising?”
“... I voted you out of the ‘I-Land’.”
William just blinked and smiled. “Don’t worry! I know I am not up to par, and I think everybody thought so too! Don’t feel bad!”
“No! You were so good! We all can see how good you were in both vocals and dance, and how your expression is pure visuals. We all saw how the juries love your performance as everybody smiled too when you danced! I know for sure that most of us voted you out because we were afraid you would be our biggest competition. So I apologise for my action and I hope you know that you are a very good performer! Maybe even matching Heesung Hyung.”
WHAT. That was new news to William. And he has been surprised by many things since the start of his infiltration. Maybe he needed to amp up his ante. He still had his main objective to chase and he couldn’t afford any distraction now.