Work Text:
It’s still too early on a weekend day. No work scheduled until later in the evening, so everyone at Testar’s dorm felt like lazing around, save for Chungwoo who just arrived from his morning jog.
For several days, a collaborative effort for an entrapment operation was reported in different news outlets. A ton of people got arrested and some gossiped among the staff that one of the former managers Testar had was also apprehended. All Chungwoo knew was that the man was fired for some reason.
Except for the person in front of the TV, nobody was actually watching the news. They’re kind of fed up about it. Honestly, how long would the government want to brag?
“Chungwoo, your brother…” Bae Sejin started. Their oldest member was inattentively stirring a fresh cup of coffee on the kitchen counter, while staring at the little boy sitting in the living room. “Is acting even more weirder today.”
“I-I agree, h-hyung.” Seon Ahyun stopped with the tea preparation to meet Chungwoo’s eyes with a nod.
“Yeah~ I mean… You don’t really believe he got that laptop as a prize from that school competition, do you?” Keun Sejin added, chin nonchalantly resting on both palms. “And, even if that’s true~ Did you know where the old one went?”
“Well… Gunwoo said it blue-screened,” Chungwoo answered, doubt lacing his tone. “And that he brought it to a repair shop.”
“Really?” Bae Sejin asked before sipping from the cup. “Who paid for it?”
Chungwoo wiped the sweat off from his face and neck with a towel while quietly observing the subject of their discussion.
“He told us he had enough money saved… from his allowance.”
His brother’s attention was split between the TV, the laptop, and smart phone. The homework spread around the coffee table looked more like props. What’s interesting though was that, even if outwardly, Gunwoo wasn’t displaying any facial reaction as usual, they could feel that the boy seemed very pleased about something.
Then Gunwoo slowly peeled a piece of plastic from the brand new computer’s base panel. The quiet boy look so satisfied that Chungwoo wanted to laugh. But…
“Very suspicious,” the two Sejins plus Ahyun said ominously together.
Then Chungwoo’s phone rang. An unknown number was trying to contact him. He shrugged and answered it.
“Hello?”
“Ryu Chungwoo?” A warm deep voice asked.
“Speaking.” His brows furrowed in question at the familiar sound.
“This is Shin Jaehyun. I would like to speak to your brother, if you don’t mind.”
He was perplexed and forgot he wasn’t alone at the moment. “Of course I do mind. Why would VTIC’s Cheongryeo want to talk with my nine year old brother?!” Didn't even check if it was fake or a scam. He even forgot to use an honorific.
Everyone immediately paid attention to him, including Gunwoo. Even Raebin popped out of his room.
“Ah, haha. So the kid haven’t told you what happened yet? Interesting.”
“What’s interesting, sunbaenim?” Chungwoo could feel his eye twitch. Gunwoo wanted to take the phone away from him but was too short to reach. Everyone else leaned closer, wanting to hear what the man on the other line had to say.
“Well, it’s all over the news.”
“News? What news?”
Gunwoo climbed on top of the table to jump on Chungwoo’s back but Eugene, who had just woken up, caught the gremlin by pulling the back of the boy’s shirt.
Chungwoo was ignoring inquiries from the others, but then his brother suddenly shouted. “No! My answer is still no!”
“Ah. That must be him. I was correct to call you. But, since you two seemed to have something to talk about. Please just tell your brother to unblock my number.”
Chungwoo pressed a hand on his temple. “No. If you don’t tell me the reason why you’re trying to talk to him. I will also block your number, sunbaenim.”
“Hm. Alright. Considering that for some reason I wasn’t able to contact his guardians’ mobile phones. Your parents, rather. It’s actually surprising I could still contact you.”
With lips compressed, Chungwoo narrowed his eyes at his brother’s… currently placid face as he continued to listen to Cheongryeo.
After a breath or two, the man finally told what he’s after. “Well, Ryu Gunwoo is perfect for LeTi’s current 9-14 talent program. It will be an invaluable experience for him. And as the new scout and representative of LeTi's A&R, I will personally train and produce him to become the next top idol.”
Chungwoo’s eyes widened. “You… what?”
“Let’s talk again in another time. I'm sure you would want to catch up with your little brother, haha. Good day, Ryu Chungwoo.”
A beep and the call ended.
“Gunwoo.”
“Yes, hyung?”
“What the fuck?”
“… can we please block that guy now?”
“Gunwoo! Honorifics!”
...
...
At the inter-school competition, about a month before the present time……
Shin Jaehyun blew sweet smoke into the cool morning air. He only took this job as a favor but the director probably felt pity for him. Being a judge for a competition such as this will put his name in some news article. Doesn’t matter if nobody reads it. The meaningless piece will serve as a footprint on what Cheongryeo did while he took a hiatus from idol activities.
He sucked from his cigarette and wondered about how the other members were faring. No doubt drunk on their asses. Useless. Their necks are on the chopping block while his career’s in limbo. Then he exhaled and made patterns out of smoke. No, not exactly useless. It was made evident upon controversies after endless controversies and then the final nail on the head with the plagiarized song, Jaehyun had lived the wrong life.
He wasn’t exactly taking note of the time so when a tired older gentleman came rushing into the smoking area, he put out his cig on the ashtray, thinking that the program was about to start. Ah. He forgot to buy a gum.
“Sir, have you seen a gloomy black haired boy with a backpack and about this height?”
Hundreds of them, running and screaming in the hall. Ah right. The keyword was gloomy.
“I’m sorry I haven’t,” he said respectfully with a slight bow.
“That little shit—sorry for bothering you.” The man quickly looked around the area for a bit before bowing and leaving in a hurry.
Jaehyun wasn’t offended that he wasn’t recognized. The man probably wasn’t even interested in idols or celebrities in the first place. He looked at the clock. There’s still a lot of time to kill.
He was about to light another cigarette when a table cloth a few paces away from where he was sitting moved. A soft glow can be seen underneath, similar to a light emitted by a device. Curious. He slowly moved closer, crouched down, and then flipped the cloth over the table.
“Hey—” He froze at the sight of an amalgamation of illegal paraphernalia on the screen. Small hands pulled the laptop screen down. Was this the lost gloomy kid? “Aren’t you a bit too young to visit websites like those?”
A tranquil face of a liar looked back at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was playing a game…”
As if.
“… and the signal is better here than outside, Cheongryeo-nim.”
Ah. Why does it have to be this boy who recognized him? Gloomy kid looked like a trouble magnet. Jaehyun was so tired of scandals. The thought made him chuckle bitterly then sighed.
“I’ve already seen it. There’s no use denying it. What. Are. You. Doing?”
The kid pondered for a bit, then took a peek over the table. Confirming that they were alone seemed to have helped the boy reach a conclusion.
“Maybe you could give me some advice since you’re from the entertainment industry…”
“Sure. Go on.”
“… and you own stocks without relying on a broker so you’re probably a research-oriented individual. You also dealt more controversies than what’s publicly out there.”
How the fuck…
Gloomy kid shimmied into a better position but stayed under the table. “You know about Ryu Chungwoo, right? From TeSTAR?”
“Yes.” Of course he does. He’s always aware of the people in the industry, especially the group that currently surpassed VTIC. Was this a scoop about them? Jaehyun unconsciously leaned closer.
“Somebody was talking about his stolen electric toothbrush in a forum. He used it as a mic prop in a WeTube live a long time ago. It had a distinct pattern and neon colored bristles. It’s memorable so people noticed.”
He blinked. What?
“Weird right? That’s why I followed where it goes. You’re also there by the way… well, not you but the trash you probably don’t care about.” The boy pulled the laptop closer where he could clearly see and navigated the site.
“That printed face mask you wore in a viral candid photo sold for a quite a large bit of crypto.” Gloomy typed some obscure word in the search bar. “Ah. It’s not here anymore. But someone will probably brag about it in the chat… anyway, let’s try the others for now.”
The kid was right. The pictures that popped up were nothing but garbage. The odd thing about it though was the attached celebrity names with additional photos and infos, dates, and… price tags?
“An… auction site? Where did you find this?” He pulled out his phone but the kid stopped him.
“You’ll need a special browser, the specific address, and an authenticator code that changes every minute. It’s only available in an invite-only chatroom.”
“You… can access the dark web?” Jaehyun’s eyebrows climbed higher and higher. Gloomy looked back at him in confusion.
“Yeah. The method’s a pretty easy search if you dig enough. It’s much harder to look for the chatroom and convince someone to give me an invite.”
“Wasn’t that dangerous?”
“It’s anonymous.” Gloomy just shrugged.
The audacity of this child. Jaehyun just shook his head with a sigh. There’s no such thing as complete anonymity on the internet. Then he gestured towards the laptop. “Can I?”
“Sure.”
He clicked on the home page and thought it was a good thing he doesn’t eat breakfast.
Snuff vids. Sex trafficking. Drugs. Firearms. Fake documents. Private information. And more. The list goes on forever. The section about selling idol goods and info was just a tiny portion of the site.
“That… was the costume I wore in a tour two years ago…”
“It says, ‘never washed, perfectly preserved.’ Oh look a bidding war. Congrats on the rich fans,” the boy said in a monotone and Jaehyun wanted to shiver with disgust.
He’s lost for words and just whistled at the rising amount… This was a nightmare. Just the thought that some lowlife went through his stuff to sell to a bunch of creepy loaded stalkers made him want to hurl. He cleared his throat. “So what advice were you looking for?”
Gloomy hugged his knees, looking tiny and somber. “I promise hyung I won’t hunt alone but if I brought this to them… these people will just disperse like flies.”
Jaehyun wondered if the kid was related to a private investigator. Or perhaps just a regular cop since journalists typically hang around police stations.
“You’re suspecting someone would leak to the press and alert them?”
“No, much worse. I’m sure a seller is part of the staff.”
Both of them contemplated a bit in silence before he asked, “And if you do hunt alone, what will you do?”
“Bait the sellers and the site owner… for starters. But it’ll be a long con.”
He can’t help it, Jaehyun laughed then said, “Just leave it be.”
“I can’t!”
“You’re a kid. I don’t want to see your picture in an obituary.” He lit another cigarette while the kid brooded beside him. “You’ll be dancing with the other children today, right? Just do that. Forget about this.”
But the kid played deaf. “I… want advise on…”
This was stressing him out. He puffed another smoke.
“… how to sustain a note.”
The what?
“Kid… what are you…”
“You smoke but you sing professionally. You’re deliberately destroying your lungs so you must have some tricks, Cheongryeo-nim.”
He’s dumbfounded. Who the hell was this kid? “Haha. From dangerous illegal stuff, now we’re moving on to singing?”
“You said forget about it so let’s forget about it.” Gloomy started packing up. “So?”
Jaehyun sighed. Vision obscured by the cigarette smoke. “Don’t smoke, ever. And exercise. Besides, I’m not the right person to ask about singing. I’m the main dancer.”
“Dancers breathe air too.” The brat was smirking at him.
Ah. Jaehyun felt like he’s being used while being lead into something. Like hell he could just forget about what he saw. He won't be able to sleep until the pests around him was identified and destroyed.
Once again, laughter spilled out from his lips. He can’t believe he’s about to say this, which was doubtless what this little manipulator had expected. “Leave the laptop. I’ll try to do something about it.”
The kid had the gull to look offended. Clearly, Gloomy needed more acting lessons. “I need it for homework. And… what can you do anyway?” This kid… really…
Jaehyun stood to put out his cigarette on the ashtray. “I’m a research-oriented individual and I have connections.” The kid didn’t move from his spot and just frowned at him. “If you impressed the judges, I’ll give it back to you.”
“Tsk. Fine.” The gadget was taken out of the bag. “I do need it for school though.”
“Your fault.” He smirked at Gloomy’s pout before taking the damn laptop.
It’s as good as gone. They might not even talk again after this. What could a bunch of dancing grade-schoolers do to impress him? Besides, the laptop's going to be evidence once he handed it over to NIS. The authorities would want a statement from the boy, but for something like this, that could be glossed over for being a minor. His word would suffice.
...
...
At the end of the day… after he metaphorically retrieved his jaw from the floor, Shin Jaehyun bought Ryu Gunwoo a new laptop—to be delivered the following day, made sure the boy had his contact number, reached out to the teachers for the music arranger, and thought maybe… just maybe, he could shelve his disaster of an idol career for the meantime.
Shin Jaehyun, Head of Artists and Repertoire Division, doesn’t sound quite so bad.
... ... ...
... ... ...
Back to the present. Sorta…
Gunwoo was lightly listening to the news on the TV while surfing the web. He’s hanging out at Testar’s dorm again on a slow weekend. It was still too early and everyone’s just lazing around.
For several days, the successful entrapment operation done by a collaborative effort of the NIS and KNP SOU, was reported in different news outlets. The website was also taken down. Victims were rescued. Evidence were secured. A ton of people got arrested, although some had managed to escape, they won’t be out for long because their crypto wallet was being monitored. And the chatroom, plus several other ones, was on fire and slowly burning to a crisp. Witnessing it on his phone was hilarious.
Gunwoo was not surprised there were no mention of Cheongryeo anywhere related to this topic. Giving the laptop to VTIC’s leader was a spur of the moment idea when he heard the guy would be at the venue. He knew Cheongryeo would be interested though. That man’s eldritch tentacles were everywhere, possibly reaching even the military. No. That’s certain now.
He had hit a bit of a minor setback on what he could do next to end this headache, a kid like him won’t be taken seriously by authorities after all. And it was getting pretty dangerous, that’s why he doesn’t want Testar’s involvement, especially with one of the sellers hanging around them at the time. He was sure he could’ve found another way eventually, but it all worked out in the end! That creepy thief manager was gone!
He looked down at the new laptop. Gunwoo was prepared to lose his old one. A sacrifice for the cause. He wasn’t expecting to have a replacement so soon and planned on doing odd jobs to buy a new equipment. He could always apply for a rental but…
He peeled off a piece of plastic that he didn’t notice was still on there. Oh… That felt nice.
Then… he could feel the eyes of several hyungs looking suspiciously at him for some reason.
Suddenly, a phone rang.
“Why would VTIC’s Cheongryeo want to talk with my nine year old brother?!”
Fuck. He knew he had forgotten something.
Credits for the audio version:
TTS: Clipchamp
BGM: all came from "No Copyright Music[36 songs 2 hours] Live streaming, study, work BGM" by 'zukisuzuki BGM' from Youtube [ or zukisuzukibgm (dot) com ]
Wrap | Charge | Umbrella | Gump | Body | Scope | Everyday
SFX:
-door opening and closing by 25347980 on Pixabay
-Making a cuppa by Pixabay
-Drinking Coffee (Free SFX) Original Content by Universal Sound FX @ YouTube
-Cell Phone Ringing Sound Effect-No Copyright by Lil BEATS @ YouTube
-Metal Gear Alert! Sound Effect by 4chan stuff @ YouTube
-fastrunning-6306 by Pixabay
-Dancing Footsteps - Sound Effect by Echo Cinematics @ YouTube
-end call sound effect by Sound Effects @ YouTube
-Footsteps Sound Effects _ Footstep Sound by n Beats @ YouTube
-Cloth Flapping On A Clothesline Thickly by Pixabay
-Bag Sounds, Movement, Searching, Zipper by Pixabay
Thank you for listening! <3