Chapter Text

ORDER 01:

~ 10 mg of Kiss My Troubles Away ~

The flashing, multi-coloured lights of the secluded karaoke room flickered across the faces of the three figures. They were wearing black hoodies and face masks as they watched the girl across from them furrow her brow in confusion and panic. She was about early university age, likely a first-year, and she frantically rummaged around the contents of her bag.

"I swear, I-I had the money," she stammered out, her hands shaking from drug withdrawal. "I really need those pills, I promise I have the payment!"

The first figure sighed, "We're done here." He raised a hand to silence the girl as she began to utter a frantic offer. "You know how to contact us if you find the money. For now, it wouldn't hurt you to cut down," he continued. His voice was curt and clear. There was no room for argument.

The second figure gave her a short nod. "Get home safely."

With that, they stood and left the girl, who was still shaking, in the booth. They pulled down their hoods as they exited the room but kept their face masks on for discretion. Although they weren't as common anymore, it wasn't abnormal to be wearing a face mask.

They were silent as they walked down the hallway of the private place they had set the meeting up at. They took the stairwell, as the cameras in the elevator would have been on them long enough that a security guard could have made out their faces. Besides, they took the elevator getting in. They didn't need to be on camera any more than they already were.

The second figure, the shortest of the three, pushed the door open and stepped out into the chilly night air. Her two companions followed her out, and the three of them walked down the street and for a few blocks before reaching a bus stop.

They were early. They had expected the client to bring their payment, and without the deal taking place, they had about 10 extra minutes to spare before the bus was scheduled to arrive. For those 10 minutes, they stood in silence. The first figure leaned against the pole with the bus sign, while the other two sat on the bench.

The bus would take them from the district of Seoul they had arranged the meeting in to their own district. Any normal person would take the subway, as it was faster and more convenient, but they weren't normal. Far from it, in fact.

Besides, the subway was much too visible, anyway. The bus was more discrete, less crowded. They could get back home unnoticed on that bus.

It was only after the bus arrived and they had taken seats at the very back that they pulled their masks off, putting them in the second figure's over-the-shoulder satchel bag. The bag wasn't particularly big, being one of the smaller kinds of satchels. But it was affordable and it was usable. That's what mattered.

The bus was nearly empty. There was just an old man sitting at the front. He was asleep, and snoring softly.

Over the next 20 minutes, every so often, he would jolt into a state of being half awake, indicated by the snoring being abruptly cut off. But it would start back up just as suddenly as it would stop, so they broke their silence, albeit quietly.

"So, Byeongjin," the second figure huffed, sliding the leather strap of the satchel flap into the metal buckle and back out after pushing the prong through one of the holes. She slouched down in her seat. "What do we do, now that we don't have any money coming in this week?"

Byeongjin sighed, running a hand through his hair, "We make do, Seulgi. We've still got some left over from last week so we just need to ration it for now. And she'll probably reschedule for next weekend, so we'll have more by then."

"You're right," Seulgi stated. "We'll start sorting out rations when we get home."

With that, the discussion was over. Seulgi and Byeongjin continued to chat, louder now that their conversation had turned to more casual topics. Ones that wouldn't be risky if they were overheard. Things like the weather or politics. Whatever helped them blend in, even amongst their limited company.

Meanwhile, the third figure, who hadn't yet spoken, continued to stay silent. She was leaning her head against the cool window pane with her eyes closed. Her legs were pulled up to her chest and her feet rested on the frontmost part of the seat. Her arms were wrapped her legs. She wasn't asleep. She was just listening.

She was normally the liveliest, the loudest of the bunch. She liked to make jokes, to tease, to absolutely exude sarcasm. She was outgoing and forward, and she always had something to say.

But in recent months, she had been lost in her own mind.

It had started in February, right before her 19th birthday. She and Seulgi had just graduated high school halfway through the month. She remembered the sight of Byeongjin, who had graduated two years prior, smiling proudly in the audience as she and Seulgi were called up at their graduation ceremony.

Since they hadn't had any school for those past several months, they were able focus more on helping Byeongjin deliver pill orders, but about a week before her birthday, she had seen an online news article that sent chills down her spine, rattling her to her core. The headline read:

"'AHM-TECH' deCM BIOINK PATENT MAKES ITS FIRST BILLION AFTER JOO LABS PARTNERS WITH J MEDICAL CENTRE [OWNERS PICTURED]"

She had frozen completely, just sitting on the couch in the apartment, staring at the wall. Her face had contorted into anger every time she thought of the name on that headline.

Joo.

It had been a long time since she had been one of them, or even seen one of them, but thought of her family made her blood boil.

Could she even call them her family? She didn't want to.

She didn't remember when, but at some point during that day, she snapped out of her anger. She needed to make sure she wasn't just seeing things. She spent the rest of that day fact-checking the many articles centred around such a monumental event. She scoured through each of them, begging for it not to be true. Alas, no such luck. All she found were confirmation after confirmation, and even photographs of the two parties shaking hands, sealing the deal.

Later that night, Seulgi and Byeongjin had found her curled up in the top bunk of the bunk beds she shared with Seulgi, facing the wall and quietly crying with her arms wrapped around herself.

She didn't talk about it. She rarely did when it came to her past because she didn't like to be so vulnerable around others. Of course, her companions were somewhat of an exception. There was no one else in the world she was closer to, but still, she as though she were being examined by scrutinising gazes instead of being observed by two concerned friends.

She was yanked out of the memory at the sound of Byeongjin attempting to get her attention, "Helloooooooo, earth to Yeri!"

Yeri jumped, her spine going stiff. She was startled by Byeongjin's abruptness. She rubbed her face. "Sorry, I was just thinking," she mumbled, leaning back in her seat. "What were you saying?"

Seulgi, with the same concerned look on her face that Yeri had been on the receiving end of since February, was the one who responded. "He was asking if you were okay, but we all know that's a stupid question because the answer is clearly no," Seulgi said, ignoring an offended huff from Byeongjin.

Of course, Byeongjin wasn't actually offended, but that was a part of the routine they all did. They laughed, they joked, they teased. That was what kept the darkness of their reality from sinking in any more than it needed to. You couldn't live like they did and not feel at least a bit of dread towards the whole situation, but they didn't need to think about it during every moment of both day and night.

Yeri sighed. Seulgi and Byeongjin still didn't know what had happened that day, but they knew it was connected to how she had been acting lately.

Yeri didn't like talking about her family, and her companions knew only that they were still alive. She never mentioned anything else about them, and they never asked. A similar form of this applied to the two of them as well, although they had shared just a few more details then Yeri had. She preferred to keep it that way.

On the other hand, she simply didn't want to think about it at all. That incident had her feeling down for months, as it had now reached September. Something that she noticed over the years of knowing her two best friends is that Byeongjin never particularly enjoyed hearing what their former families were up to. That was definitely something Yeri could relate to.

None of them were very lucky at all, but in a somewhat twisted way, Yeri sometimes thought that Seulgi was lucky enough in that she never had to hear about what her parents were doing without her.

Decaying. Passing off energy to the earthworms and the soil.

That was all a dead person could do.

She felt bad every time she thought about that.

Regardless, it was obvious that her companions had noticed her behaviour over the past several months, as she wasn't really doing anything to hide it. She was still silly and she still made stupid jokes. She still teased Byeongjin when the opportunity presented itself. However, alongside all of that, she had been carrying a different air about her. A much heavier one.

It wasn't as though the moments of happiness were pretend. She didn't fake her reactions or her laughter. It was just that once the moments ended, she would simply feel numb.

The complete absence of feeling. Or maybe she was just feeling so much that she couldn't feel it at all. She didn't know.

"Yeah, I'm alright. I'm just pretty tired right now," she deflected, although it wasn't actually a lie. She knew that Seulgi knew that. It wasn't like she was getting a full 8 hours a night either. Seulgi was a chronic sleep-avoider, as Yeri liked to put it.

Byeongjin on the other hand…well, Byeongjin could sleep through a hurricane.

But regardless of whether or not he was awake to see her not sleeping, the dark circles were impossible to ignore, although she did try to use her cheap concealer to cover it up. Her main strategy of avoidance was to call Seulgi out on her hypocrisy.

They were all exhausted and they often were. It's difficult to get a good sleep under so much stress. But Yeri, like Seulgi, was used to ignoring it, hence why Seulgi raised her eyebrow at her, clearly seeing through her deflection.

Seulgi sighed and mentally decided to table the discussion for the time being, although she made up her mind to corner Yeri later in the week.

As the bus reached their stop and the three stepped off, Seulgi and Byeongjin let her trail behind them in silence as they discussed their situation in hushed tones. After walking the last couple blocks, their apartment complex came into view.

The building was old, but stable. Poor, but affordable. And it was home.

They entered the building's rickety elevator that always rattled so much that anyone would worry about it getting stuck. Byeongjin pressed the button for the 25th floor. He liked being the one to press the button.

The elevator hummed as it slowly carried them up each floor. None of them spoke, which is something that they were used to doing in public spaces. As public as an apartment building elevator that no one else was in could be considered to be. They were used to needing to be discrete in their line of work, if it could even be called that.

There was a dinging noise as the elevator reached their floor, the doors sliding open so that they could step through. Byeongjin led the way down the hall to their apartment, number 2507. It was at the end of the hallway, but not the furthest one at end wall. Rather, it was the adjacent apartment along the side wall.

Seulgi pushed past Byeongjin to slide her key into the keyhole. The sound of the lock opening as Seulgi turned the key sounded like a gunshot in the quiet hallway. Seulgi pushed the door open enough to grasp the door chain in her hand and undo it so her companions could step inside. She redid the chain and locked the door as Byeongjin and Yeri took off their shoes, and then she took off hers as well.

Yeri removed her coat as her companions did the same, sliding her arms out of the warm sleeves.

For a moment, once all of the coats were on the unstable rack, the trio paused. They stood in silence. Each of them thought back on the day's events. Then, Byeongjin clapped his hands together and said sarcastically, "Now, who's excited to sort out our rations for the week?"

~°˖✧˖°~

The remaining money for the week was spread out on the table as Byeongjin and Seulgi sorted it into four groups. Three of the groups, one for each of them, had about ₩30,000 each in it, while the fourth, which was to be added to an existing pool of money dedicated to the bills, had just under ₩60,000 in it. They would use their own piles to purchase food. Luckily, they didn't need to worry about paying their supplier for the pills they delivered. She always let them keep what they earned, knowing they were tight on money. If any of them had ever wondered why she cared, they didn't bother finding out.

With each new round of earnings, they saved a chunk of it for the electric and water. The apartment was all they had. If they couldn't pay their bills then they would lose even that, and they couldn't let that happen, not if any of the trio could do anything to stop it.

The apartment really wasn't much, but it was home.

They normally had more deliveries, but the rush to place orders right after summer break had come and gone, and it was now the end of September. That meant less money coming in.

It would be back up in mid-October, which didn't seem to far off, but when you need to ration what you have just so you can keep the lights on and the water running, every cent counts.

Luckily, their building had free wifi. It was slow, but it was usable. Although, they still needed to pay for data on their phones. The burner phones that they used to contact clients and their supplier on the other hand, were basic flip phone with texting and calling features, so they only needed to worry about data on their "public" phones, which were low-priced phones that were older models, but for orders, they would use burners.

Yeri had been using Seulgi's shoulder as a pillow the whole time, leaning into her with her eyes closed. She really wasn't this quiet normally, but then again, nothing had been particularly normal for her for the past several months. She had found herself stuck in her mind far more often than she would have liked, constantly ruminating on every thought in her mind.

She had also been feeling paranoid about her secret. Realistically, if Seulgi and Byeongjin had seen the articles, they wouldn't have made the connection. They didn't know what her last name used to be, after all, nor did they know what her parents looked like, but that didn't mean she wasn't worrying about it.

Logically, she knew that what she was afraid of was absurd. Seulgi and Byeongjin would never blame her for such a thing, and she knew this well. But the thought of them finding out about her parents making their first billion while the three of them were rationing money for bills and food…she frowned from her spot on Seulgi's shoulder.

"So, if we stick to the local CU for this week, then we should be good," Seulgi sighed. "Not the healthiest option, but probably the cheapest. Agreed?"

Byeongjin nodded and took his pile, while Yeri gave a thumbs up and released Seulgi from pillow duty. Seulgi's arms shot up in the air, "Freedom!"

Byeongjin snorted and Yeri batted her outstretched arm playfully as the three of them laughed. Despite feeling the way she did, Yeri was glad that these moments of laughter between them could still happen as they always had. They always managed to make her feel at least a little better.

~°˖✧˖°~

Yeri didn't sleep that night. She didn't sleep because Seulgi didn't sleep, and Seulgi didn't sleep because, shockingly, Byeongjin didn't sleep. They were all quite bored, and Seulgi and Yeri were used to occupying the time they spent depriving themselves of sleep by playing games, so, naturally, they decided to play games. Anyone could guess how well that went.

"YOU DIDN'T SAY UNO!" Yeri slammed her hand on the table, making it rattle. "YOU HAVE TO PICK UP TWO CARDS!"

"WHAT?!" Byeongjin yelled, raising his voice to the same level as Yeri's. "SINCE WHEN HAS THAT BEEN A RULE?!"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe just since THE CREATION OF THE GAME!" Yeri yelled back sarcastically.

Byeongjin snatched the playing manual from the card box and unfolded it. His eyes followed the lines of text until he stopped, eyes widening. He looked up to make eye contact with a smug Yeri, and then shoved the manual away with a huff.

He drew two cards from the pile for not saying Uno.

Seulgi sighed. It was going to be a long night.

She had already won the game 20 minutes ago, but Yeri and Byeongjin were fighting over second and third place as though their lives (or more accurately, their pride) depended on it. It was genuinely the longest Seulgi had ever seen a game of Uno go on for, especially after one person had already gotten rid of all their cards. The deck had been reshuffled twice.

She sighed for what seemed like the millionth time, "Guys, seriously, this had gone overboard."

Yeri and Byeongjin snapped their heads in her direction at the time time, startling her.

"You don't get it Seulgi," Byeongjin explained. "Not getting first place is one thing, but not getting second place, just being dead last, is NOT a position I will be carrying, thanks."

Yeri snorted. "Like you're winning this, Jin," she said, placing down a +4 card. "Uno."

Byeongjin slammed his cards face-down on the table with an outraged yell, "OH COME ON!"

Yeri laughed, "That's what happens when you play the game right."

Byeongjin picked his cards back up and rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he muttered under his breath.

The sound of Yeri and Byeongjin bickering was interrupted by a buzzing noise coming from beside Seulgi. Two heads turned to her to see that the noise was coming from one of the burners.

Yeri and Byeongjin exchanged a look before Seulgi picked up the phone. The device buzzed again as she flipped it open and punched in the passcode to open it.

Yeri eyed Seulgi as the latter raised an intrigued eyebrow upon opening the message that had been sent to the phone.

"It's Beomsu," Seulgi said with an intrigued lilt in her voice. "She seems to have found the money early than we thought she would."

Yeri and Byeongjin put their cards down and leaned in, so that Seulgi could show them the message:

~

00:54

K. Beomsu: I have the money.

K. Beomsu: Can we meet tonight?

~

The three of them exchanged unreadable looks, and then nods. It wasn't as though any of them had something to do, and there weren't any upcoming things they needed to be well-rested for (as if they weren't already staying up to play Uno).

They had tried applying for a few jobs in the past, as last ditch attempts to get out of the world they were in, but none of them had ever been accepted by any place that was hiring. Mainly because their address used to be the orphanage, and was now a small apartment complex in Gwanak-gu. It really wasn't anything special to look at, but it was affordable and the security was decent enough to keep them out of trouble and out of danger.

Most of their customers were located in Gangnam. There were a lot of wealthy people in the Gangnam Region, as it contained two of Seoul's wealthiest districts. It was good for business. Especially when the customers were stressed students in desperate need of a studying aid.

It wasn't something any of them were particularly proud of, but they did what they needed to do to survive.

With the confirmation she received from her companions, Seulgi texted back:

~

00:56

Seller_W: Meet us at the café in two hours, 03:00 sharp.

Seller_W: You'll get a 5-minute grace period, and then we leave. Same as always.

~

00:57

K. Beomsu: Will do.

~

Seulgi flipped the burner shut.

"I guess we won't have to ration this week," Byeongjin said, quirking the corner of his lips up.

~°˖✧˖°~

Yeri stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, having just finished tying up her hair in a low ponytail. The door was open and through it, she could see Seulgi and Byeongjin having a sock-throwing fight in the living room.

Seulgi would win, she was sure.

Her arms fell down to her sides as her eyes travelled down her body. She generally tried to avoid looking at her reflection, because when she did, she couldn't stop.

She never really had the best self-image.

With a sigh, she squeezed her eyes shut. She clenched her fists so hard she could feel her fingernails cutting into her palms. She tried to breathe as best as she could, trying not to let cruel words echo through her brain.

She wasn't sure how long she stood like that before she felt warm and comforting arms wrapping around her. She sighed and melted into Seulgi's embrace, still feeling like she detested her own reflection, but luckily, feeling calmer. She could feel her breathing slow down to a more comfortable rate. Yeri buried her face in Seulgi's shoulder.

"I know you don't think this way about yourself and that you're not going to believe me," Seulgi said softly, stroking her hair with a comforting hand. "But you're beautiful."

After hearing a muffled whimper, Seulgi continued, "You're one of the most beautiful people I have ever seen and I don't want you thinking otherwise. I know it's hard, though."

Along with the relentless thoughts and the lack of sleep, Yeri's discovery of that headline had brought back some unhealthy habits of hers from when she was younger, leftover impulses from when she still had a biological family and from long afterwards. She hadn't returned to those habits with the same intensity, but the thoughts were as bothersome as always.

Yeri took another deep breath and disengaged from Seulgi shoulder.

"Freedom once more," Seulgi whispered with a soft smile, making Yeri giggle.

She smiled. "Thanks Seul," she whispered back.

"Anytime."

~°˖✧˖°~

Yeri and Seulgi made their way to the living room where Byeongjin was sitting on the old, patched-up couch. When he saw them, he stood, concern etched into his features. "You okay, Yer?" he said, using the nickname he and Seulgi always called her.

Yeri nodded, "Yeah, I feel better now, thanks to Seulgi." He wrapped her into a hug. When they separated, Seulgi knew that it was time to get back to business.

"So, Byeong, you're staying here so we don't draw suspicion from the sight of four people meeting in the middle of the night," Seulgi started, receiving a nod. "And Yeri, you and I will take the bus back to Gangnam and make the exchange." Another nod.

The masks and hats were still in Seulgi's satchel. She pulled out hers and Yeri's, handing the latter her things, and then donning her own. She took Byeongjin's mask out and used his hat to wrap the plastic bottle of pills in. She placed the bundle in the satchel, closed it, and slung it over her shoulder.

Byeongjin gave her a pat on the shoulder, "Good luck, you two. And be careful."

Seulgi and Yeri had done a few runs without Byeongjin before, but only when necessary. Mainly night deliveries, as the trio liked to stick together for even the evening ones. They knew what to do, they were prepared, and the client was only Beomsu, who had rarely caused issues before that day, so none of them were particularly worried. The warning was mainly in place for getting there and back. He was warning them to be careful in case there was anyone sketchy on the bus or the streets.

Ironic, wasn't it?

They both nodded, and grabbed their coats off the rack. While putting on their shoes, Byeongjin gave a playful salute, which both of them returned.

~°˖✧˖°~

The bus was empty. They were about 20 minutes into the 30 minute bus ride to a stop in Gangnam that was just a few blocks away from the café where they would be meeting Beomsu. They didn't speak much other than to talk about the latest funny meme on the internet or random cat pictures.

Although there were no other passengers on the bus, there was still the driver, who could call the police if he realised what they were about to do.

Throughout the ride, they were holding hands, simply as a gesture of comfort that was initiated by Seulgi and eagerly returned by Yeri.

When the monitor in the front of the bus displayed their stop, Yeri reached up to tug on the cord that lined the windows, indicating to the driver that he should stop at the next destination. They climbed out of their seats and stepped off of the bus without speaking to each other.

They took a moment to appreciate the cool night breeze before they began heading in the direction of the café. As they did, Seulgi flicked her wrist up, checking the time on her watch: 02:49.

By the time they reached the café, the watch face displayed the time as 02:56. They took a seat at an outdoor table right under the awning that lined outer structure of the café. than covered a couple of tables. That way, the cameras along the awning wouldn't catch them.

That normally wouldn't be a problem for the café owners because those tables were right in front of the window, where the employees could look out and see them, but because it was nighttime, it was closed. By 02:59, Beomsu arrived.

They didn't exchange pleasantries. Yeri and Seulgi were eager to get back home and Beomsu was eager to get her pills.

They went through the standard routine: Beomsu brought out the money, about ₩200,000, and pushed it to Yeri and Seulgi's side of the table so they could inspect it. After verifying that the payment was legitimate, Yeri held the money while Seulgi brought the hat out of her satchel. She grabbed the bottle out of the hat and handed it to Beomsu, who took it eagerly. From there, they went their separate ways, with Beomsu leaving in a hurry and the duo staying behind.

Seulgi breathed out once Beomsu had turned the corner and was out of both sight and earshot. "I'm a bit concerned for her," she mumbled in a hushed tone.

Yeri nodded in agreement. "Yeah, maybe we should cut her off soon…"

They exchanged a look, thinking about how Beomsu could react to such a thing.

"Let's talk about it with Jin when we get back home," Seulgi decided, receiving a confirming nod from Yeri.

With that, they stood up from their chairs, tucked them out, and walked out from under the awning. They held hands and strolled slowly back towards the bus stop. Now that the deal had been made, they weren't in much of a hurry anymore.

However, as they were about to turn the corner, they heard hushed voices. They paused, gauging for discretion, however, a yell cut through the air.

"GIVE THOSE BACK!"

It was Beomsu. They both recognised her voice immediately. They hid behind the building at the corner of the street, hoping not to be seen. They weren't heartless, and they did worry about Beomsu despite not knowing her too well. Of course, they couldn't just jump in to help her though in case there was danger involved.

"You don't need drugs, Beomsu, come on! They're not good for you," said a sharp voice.

"I'm the one who paid for them, Jaeyi! Give them back!" Beomsu yelled.

The sharp voice, who they now knew belonged to someone named Jaeyi, refused, "No. I can pay you back for it, just don't take these. We're worried about you."

Another voice, gentler, joined in. "She's right Beomsu, we're just trying to help."

"Well, you're not helping, Kyung," Beomsu said frantically. "I need those pills!"

As the argument continued, Seulgi began slowly peeking around the corner, trying to see the conflict. What she saw made her let out a stifled gasp, which was drowned out over the sound of the yelling. In the light emitting from the streetlight closeby, Yeri could see that Seulgi's cheeks had taken on a slight blush.

Confused, Yeri peeked her head over Seulgi's to see what was making Seulgi blush, because that was unusual given the situation at hand.

Beomsu stood with her back to them. A taller girl was holding the pill bottle out of Beomsu's reach. Yeri assumed that was Jaeyi. Another girl stood beside Jaeyi, although her face was blocked by Beomsu. Lastly, a shorter girl stood off to Jaeyi's other side, looking as though she would have rather been anywhere else.

Beomsu addressed her next, "Ara, you rat! You promised you wouldn't tell!"

The girl, Ara, didn't respond, instead looking at the ground.

Beomsu looked rapidly between the three girls before running at Jaeyi, making a grab for the pills. Jaeyi held the bottle up higher as Ara began screaming and pushing Beomsu away.

When she moved, Beomsu revealed the face of the second girl, Kyung, to Yeri. Kyung watched in utter bewilderment at what was unfolding, and Yeri froze.

She felt her face heat up as Seulgi's did, although she noticed in her peripheral that it was Jaeyi who Seulgi's gaze was on. Her heart thudded loudly in her chest.

That girl, Kyung, was the most beautiful person Yeri had ever seen.

It was when Beomsu got shoved to the ground by Ara that Yeri and Seulgi realised that it was a good time for them to start stepping in.