Chapter Text
The fluorescent lights of the Nova-X Entertainment practice room were doing zero favors for my complexion, and quite frankly, my CEO, Madam Lin, was doing zero favors for my sanity.
"Smile with your eyes, y/n," Lin purred, leaning back in her velvet chair. She looked like sheโd spent the morning bathing in the blood of her enemies and the afternoon at a Botox clinic. "The 'Obsession' concept isn't just about looking expensive. Itโs about looking like youโd kill for a Cartier watch. Which, coincidentally, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ will be doing."
๐'๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฑ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ข๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ค๐บ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ๐ด, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฐ๐น๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ข๐ณ๐จ๐ฐ๐บ๐ญ๐ฆ, I thought, holding a perfect, razor-sharp pose. My outfit was three sizes too small and made entirely of latex. I was serving face. I was serving body. I was serving a 10-page mental list of all the ways I could dismantle this room with a hairpin.
โ"The targets are the four boys," Lin continued, flicking through photos of the rival agencyโs top group. "Ohyul, Ryul, Woojin, Louis. They are the only things keeping ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎโ" she practically hissed the name of the rival CEO, "โhappy. Destroy them. Become an idol. Win their hearts. Then stop them."
โI had to audition. Me. A professional who can pick a lock in four seconds. I had to stand in front of a panel of judges and do a girl-group dance to a song called '๐ช๐จ๐ป๐ช๐ฏ ๐ช๐จ๐ป๐ช๐ฏ' while internally calculating the trajectory of a throwing knife.
'๐โ๐ฎ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ข๐ด๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐โ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ '๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ฐ-๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ฐ-๐ฏ๐ช' ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฌ. ๐๐ฎ๐ญ.'
โหยทอเผยทอหโโ ฬฬเณเฟ
Three weeks into my trainee hell, I managed to sneak out of the dorm. I was wearing a massive hoodie, baggy cargo pants, and a cap pulled low. No makeup. No energy. Just a girl who wanted a strawberry milk from the convenience store without being told her "carb intake is a liability."
โI was crossing the dark parking lot behind the music station when a literal blur of expensive cologne and desperation slammed into me.
"N/n?"
Before I could reach for the blade hidden in my waistband, I was engulfed. It wasn't a hug; it was a structural collapse. This manโtall, smelling like expensive cedarwood and heartbreakโbasically tried to fuse his DNA with mine.
'๐๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด? ๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ? ๐๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฆ๐ช๐ป๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ?'
โI didn't have my "killing permit" active, and honestly? He felt like he was about to fall apart. So, I did what any sensible assassin would do: I patted his back awkwardly. "Uh... there, there? You okay, bro?"
Then it got weird.
He didn't let go. Instead, he buried his face in the crook of my neck, inhaling like he was trying to vacuum up my entire soul. I felt his nose wandering along my collarbone, huffing my scent like a bloodhound.
'๐๐ช๐ณ, ๐ช๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐ถ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ต-๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ณ๐ต. ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ด๐ฏ๐ช๐ง๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ด๐บ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ.'
And then? The audacity. I felt a large, calloused hand slide down and firmly grip my posterior. Not a brush. A grip. Like he was checking the ripeness of a melon.
'๐๐ฌ๐ข๐บ, ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ, ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐โ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ 200๐ญ๐ฃ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐บ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ '๐ค๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐บ' ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐บ๐ด๐ช๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐บ๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ."
"Y/n... I knew you'd come back," he whimpered into my skin, his hand giving a possessive squeeze that made my eye twitch. "Don't leave again."
โ๐๐๐๐โ๐ ๐๐๐:
โMy lungs were burning. Iโd seen her. In the shadows of the loading dock, the silhouette Iโd see in my dreams for three years.
Where have she been? Why did she disappear right after my birthday?
I didn't think. I just ran. When I hug her, she felt real. She smelled like the same vanilla and rain, but with something sharper underneath. I couldn't let go. If I let go, sheโd evaporate again. I needed her scent on me. I needed to know she was solid, so I held onโhard. My hand moved on its own, needing to feel the curve of the girl who promised sheโd never leave.
"Ryul! Let her go, you lunatic!"
Woojin and Louis scrambled over, literally prying my fingers off her. I felt like a limb was being torn off.
โ๐๐๐๐๐โ๐ ๐๐๐:
โI stood five feet back, watching the chaos. I should have been apologizing. I should have been dragging Ryul away from this poor, random girl.
But then she looked up.
The cap fell back just an inch. The moonlight hit her face. Everything slowed down. The way she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear wasn't just a movementโit was a declaration of war. She looked at us with this mixture of boredom and lethal grace that made my heart do a disgusting, amateurish flip.
She wasn't just a girl. She was... ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ข๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ญ๐บ beautiful.
โI felt my knees go weak. ๐๐ฆ๐ต ๐ข ๐จ๐ณ๐ช๐ฑ, ๐๐ฉ๐บ๐ถ๐ญ. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ด๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฏ. But as she adjusted her hoodie and gave us a look that suggested sheโd like to bury us all in shallow graves, I realized I was in deep, deep trouble.
๐ฝ๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐/๐ฃ:
โ"Sorry! So sorry!" The youngest oneโLouis, I thinkโwas bowing so fast he looked like a bobblehead. "Heโs... heโs been stressed! He thinks you're someone else!"
โI adjusted my pants, staring at the four of them. Ryul was being held back like a rabid golden retriever, staring at me with teary eyes. Ohyul was just... staring. Like heโd forgotten how to breathe.
'๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต. ๐๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆโ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.'
โโ"Yeah, whatever," I muttered, serving one final, accidentalย glare before spinning on my heel. "Buy him a leash next time."
โI walked away, feeling Ohyulโs eyes burning holes in my back. ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง: ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ด.
๐ง๐ฏ๐ฐ