Chapter Text
You had only been in the RFA for a few days, and already you seemed to be getting a grasp of the lives and complexities of the other members. Each of them had their own struggles and problems, and also had their own views on matters which affected them all. They all had their differences, whether it be to do with age, wealth, education, family, or their past, and it made you feel curious. You wanted to be able to understand them and get along with them all as the new member and new party planner of the group.
But despite this…
There was one member who was still so confusing to you.
An enigma.
The current leader of the group, V.
He was the one person which you knew close to nothing about. Not even his real name was known to you. All you knew that he was known as V on the messenger, he was engaged to Rika before she committed suicide, a childhood friend of Jumin’s, and that he was a photographer. Nothing else was known.
You even knew more about Seven than that, considering that Seven was a hacker whose job depended on him keeping details about himself a secret.
Speaking of Seven, your were currently on the phone with him, though thinking about how well you knew everyone had distracted you.
“You absolutely must listen to me… You can’t leave the apartment.”
“What...? But what if I need-”
“You can’t leave, not even for a few moments! It’s dangerous, okay?! I have reason to believe that the hacker will try to target you as soon as you leave the apartment...Please… Don’t leave.”
“Um… F- Fine...” You take a shaky breath, before closing your eyes. “But Seven… What if an RFA member comes here? Would I be allowed to let them in?”
“Hmm… Well, only myself and V know the address. But I suppose if it’s us, it will be okay. Call me straight away if Zen, Jaehee, Yoosung, or Jumin end up there though, because that means that something...” You could hear Seven trying to find the right words on the other end of the phone.”That… something isn’t right.”
Reluctantly, you sighed and sat down on the sofa in the apartment. Moments later, you heard Seven just about meow and say bye, and then you were stuck in silence.
You couldn’t leave the apartment? That was great… just great. You could have swore that you had almost no food in that morning, and were barely able to get a breakfast together, and now you were stuck here for god knows how long, perhaps even all the way up to the party! You were lucky that there was running water in the apartment, but… What could you possibly do about eating?
After what felt like a good few hours wondering about what you could possibly do in regards to food, a sudden notification popped up on your phone.
A new chatroom has opened!
Almost as if by instinct, you pressed the notification, unlocked your phone, and then watched as the RFA messenger opened up. The list of chatrooms opened up, and you quickly scrolled down to find the current one. Zen and Jumin were online… Zen was likely to freak out over your current situation, so you decided that it would be best not to mention it.
Jumin Han: Why don’t you accept the job, Zen?
ZEN: Jerk. You know that I have an allergy to cats!
Jumin Han: Hello there.
ZEN: Hey! Are you changing the subject on me?!
ZEN: Oh! Hey! You okay?
You: Hello, you two~
You: I’m good at the moment, Zen. Just a bit bored.
ZEN: Bored? How come?
You: Oh… Seven called me before, saying that it’s dangerous for me to leave the apartment right now…
Jumin Han: Is this because of the hacker?
You: Unfortunately.
ZEN: God! This hacker isn’t letting up!
Jumin Han: Agreed. But perhaps we should change the topic of conversation, she might have come online for a distraction from her current situation.
You: Aaaand one point to Jumin Han!
ZEN: Um…
You: Oh. And one sympathy point to Zen for being good looking and good at acting ^^
Jumin Han: I object.
ZEN: lolol overruled~
You laughed at the way in which Zen reacted to Jumin’s objection, before deciding to get in on the fun yourself. This was a fun distraction.
You: Silence in the courtroom~
Jumin Han: This is not a court.
You: Booooooo, you can’t take a joke, Jumin……..
ZEN: And that, your honour, is why Jumin Han is GUILTY!
It was fun when you got to joke around with Seven in the chatroom, but sometimes, Zen was just as playful. The same went with Yoosung too, if you managed to perk him up enough with video game related encouragement. This was one of the few times where you were having fun with Zen. Sure, you felt somewhat sorry for Jumin, but…
-V has entered the chatroom-
Jumin Han: This. Is. Not. A. Courtroom.
V: I probably shouldn’t ask, should I?
You stared at the screen in disbelief. V had said about two days before that he was going on a trip, and would return a day before the party… The party was still a few days away. No doubt Zen and Jumin were gasping at their phone screens too.
You: !!
Jumin Han: V? What are you doing here?
V: Something came up… I had to return back to the city.
ZEN: What was it?
V: I can’t really say. Sorry, Hyun.
V: Anyway, seeming as I am here, I might as well talk to you all. Have you all ate?
The question you were dreading. You knew that it would get brought up at some point, it always does at this point in the day by somebody, typically Zen or Yoosung.
ZEN: lololol I’ve just gone to the convenience store and bought some food
Jumin Han: I just had an enjoyable meal with Elizabeth. It is a shame that you did not come on here earlier, V, I would have invited you to join us.
You: … I can’t eat at the moment.
Moments later, Zen’s surprised emoji was posted, and even more shockingly, Jumin used his angry emoji. You closed your eyes, annoyed with yourself for actually writing that. One question was going through your mind – why didn’t you lie to them?
V: What do you mean?
ZEN: You should always eat if you can!!! Are you skipping meals?!
Jumin Han: If you could leave the apartment, I would invite you to my penthouse for a meal…
V: Wait, she can’t leave Rika’s apartment?
Because you weren’t wanting any sympathy at that moment in time, you quickly logged out of the chatroom and left it behind on the sofa as you stood up. What you needed right now was a drink of water.
The kitchen was hardly touched in the few days which you had been residing at the apartment, so it still had two years worth of dust all over the surfaces. You had relied simply on ready-made meals from convenience stores or on anything which could be cooked within a few minutes in the microwave, making that the only thing in the kitchen which didn’t have any dust. Besides the tap, that was.
You reached out for the empty bottle which had been a substitute for a cup over the past few days, before unscrewing the lid and sighing as you began to pour the water. Unfortunately, you got a bit sidetracked as the water ran, because you began to hear the buzzing of texts from your phone. It was probably just Zen and Jumin trying to see what had happened to make you suddenly leave the chatroom.
Water suddenly began to overflow onto your hands moments later, so you shrieked and quickly screwed the lid onto the bottle before turning off the tap. Just your luck… Things weren’t going your way today.
Suddenly, your phone began to ring with an unknown ringtone. It made you slightly paranoid, because the your phone was quite new, and the only contacts which you had on there were Zen, Yoosung, Jaehee, Jumin, and Seven. “God… Thanks a lot, Seven, you’ve made me worried that the hacker is trying to call me now...” With a slight reluctance, you returned to the sofa and picked up the device and slowly moved your finger over to ‘reject call’.
But you still answered it.
“Hello? This is V… I’m sorry, I just had to ask Jumin for your number so that I could call you.”
“V? God… I was scared that you were the hacker...” You placed the bottle of water down on the ground, before you sat on the sofa. It was only V… But wait, why didn’t Seven put his number in your contacts like he had the others? “Uh… Why did you want to talk to me?...”
“After Hyun and Jumin mentioned that you weren’t able to leave Rika’s apartment, I looked back through the chatroom and noticed that you had mentioned that Luciel said for you not to leave. What exactly did he tell you? Normally he wouldn’t have made a decision like that on his own, but he must have presumed that I was still away,” V explained, before you heard what sounded like a door closing behind him, followed by the noises made by moving cars.
For the next few minutes, you did exactly as V asked, and relayed to him as best as you could everything which Seven had told you in regards to leaving the apartment. It was a relief that V was so understanding over this being the reason behind you not being able to get any food to eat. Zen and Jumin probably would have gone ballistic if they were told that though.
“I… see,” V started, before you heard him muttering something to himself for a moment. “Could you quickly send Luciel a text for me whilst I am on the phone with you? I just tried to, and I got a notification saying that the message wasn’t sent.”
“Okay… Just let me put my phone on speaker so I can hear you at the same time,” you mumbled, pulling your phone away from your ear and pressing the speaker button. After that, you opened the messages and pressed Seven’s name. “Right. I’ve got my messages open. What do you want me to put?”
“Tell Luciel that I am back in town, my phone is bugged meaning that I can’t contact him, and that I am going to see you at the apartment.”
You typed it out, and pressed send. But then you gasped. “Wait… Are you… coming here?”
“Yes. You are just as much a member of the RFA as everyone else is, and I should be concerned about your welfare as the leader of the group. I’ll bring you some food to eat.” He then fell silent, and you bit your lip. V was coming to see you? At the apartment? To bring you something to eat?! “Would you like me to buy anything in particular, or are you not too bothered with what you eat? I can get you what you want… Take it as an apology for everything which has been happening recently.”
“I- I’m fine with anything…” Moments later, your phone buzzed through receiving a text message. “Oh… Seven replied… He said that he wants to talk to you as soon as you get to the apartment so you’ll have to use my phone...”
“Right… See you in a few minutes. I’m only at the convenience store just outside the building with the apartment.”
“V… Thank you so much for this… See you soon.”
For the next few minutes, you kept getting repeated frustrated texts from Seven to stop sticking your head out of the apartment door. Each time, you would turn to the security camera down the hallway and stick your tongue out. After a while, Seven just gave up. What surprised you though was the image which was sent to you moments later by him.
‘This guy right here is V. Except he’s likely to have a cane and sunglasses because he’s got a bit of an eye injury at the moment and he can’t see properly.’
Almost as if on cue, the sound of the elevator arriving at the floor rang through the air, and a man matching the image and what Seven had said in his message stepped out. With that, you waved over to the camera and then pointed towards him. It quickly moved to face towards the elevator.
‘Awesome, he’s there ;) Call me so that I can speak to him when you’ve ate.’
‘By the way, sorry for springing the whole ‘don’t leave the apartment’ thing on you so suddenly;;’
‘I never knew that you didn’t have any food, I was just concerned for your safety!’
‘I mean, what can I do in the chat without my partner in crime to help me joke about or tease Yoosung?!’
You laughed at the four successive messages, before putting on a smile as V approached you.
This was your opportunity to figure out the mystery of the RFA… Perhaps you could finally find out more about him.
“Hello there… This is our first time meeting in person,” V stated, before he pulled his sunglasses down slightly. “I’ve only seen you on images which Luciel managed to get of you. I have to say… You look much nicer in person.”
Was it possible to get this flustered because of somebody you only met in person less than thirty seconds ago?
It took a lot to muster up something to say. “We should go inside… Seven will start getting more and more paranoid the longer that I’m stood in the doorway,” you mumbled, before then waving to the camera in the hall once more. Once the two of you were inside, you made a quick glance over to the kitchen. “S- So, um… I don’t mean to sound rude or anything… But do you have the food?… I haven’t ate since this morning, and that was barely anything… Just a bit of leftover rice from yesterday...”
It was easy to tell that V was looking directly at you through his sunglasses, before he held up a bag which was in his hand. “I’ve got it all in here. But let me make you something, okay?” He pulled the bag back as you went to reach out for it, before… grinning. Was he teasing you?! “I’ll just make a few sandwiches. They’re quick and filling, and I’m sure that you’ll stop receiving text after text from Hyun asking if you’ve ate...” Oh. You had started blanking out your phone once you noticed V leaving the elevator, so you hadn’t noticed the bombardment of texts which you had got from Zen. Twelve of them, by the looks of things. “Reply to him. I’m sure that you will be able to eat once he’s stopped stressing out over your health.”
You felt warm and happy when V ruffled your hair as he walked past you towards the kitchen as you sat down on the sofa in order to do as V had suggested.
‘Gah! Answer me! Are you skipping your meals?!’
You rolled your eyes, and began to type out your answer.
‘Not intentionally, Zen… There was no food in the apartment and Seven pretty much has me on lockdown here because of the hacker.’
‘Oh! But there’s no reason to worry now! V suddenly called me, saying that he was going to bring me some food… He’s here right now, actually.’ You yawned slightly then, awaiting Zen’s response. You then reached out for the nearby television remote, and turned the tv on. The only somewhat decent thing on at that moment in time was the news, so you decided to just put that on.
‘V… IS WITH YOU RIGHT NOW?!’
‘YOU’RE ALONE WITH A MAN IN THE APARTMENT?!’
‘AT NIGHT?!’
You could already picture Zen’s face, and a smirk formed on yours.
‘He offered to make me something to eat as an apology for everything which has happened over the past few days… It’s really sweet, isn’t it?’
‘Yeah, I guess so… V’s a nice guy.’
‘Though I’m so jealous;;’
‘He’s the first RFA member to meet you in person...’
As soon as Zen’s last text came through, you suddenly noticed a plate with some sandwiches cut up into triangles appear beside you, and moments later, V did too with some food for himself. “So… Did you explain about your no food situation to Hyun?” You nod in reply, reaching out for one of the cute little triangles with cheese as the filling. “That’s good.”
After that, whilst the two of you ate, the only noise which could be heard was the weather report for tomorrow on the news. It was only once the sandwiches had been devoured that you were actually able to speak.
“Hey, V?… I want to know more about you,” you began, pulling your knees up onto the sofa and turning to face him. “I’ve got to know quite a bit about the others in the chatrooms, but I hardly know you...” You then noticed him turn towards you, and smile. “I might as well get to know you whilst we’re together in person, you know? Oh… After you’ve called Seven, that is.” Quickly, you held out your phone with Seven’s contact page already open.
The next thing you knew, it was morning, and you had woke up and found yourself lying in the bed in the apartment. Beside you was your phone, and a small slip of paper.
‘It was nice to meet you last night. You fell asleep whilst I spoke to Luciel before I could answer those questions you had. I took the liberty of tucking you into bed and putting away everything which I bought for you. There’s bread, coffee and rice in the cupboards; butter, milk, cheese, egg, and a few other things in the fridge, and also some fruit in the bowl on the counter.
You look quite sweet when you’re sleeping, by the way. I never thought of you to be the sort of person who sleep-talks either.
Oh yes, just so you know, I slept on the sofa last night. I just needed to make sure that you were safe and well.
Anyway, I have to go and meet Luciel today about seeing that the bugs in my phone are dealt with. But how about I return to the apartment at the same time tonight? I’ll answer any questions that you have about me or anything else.
- V (Jihyun Kim)’
A wide smile formed on your face then.
His name…
The perfect start in uncovering the RFA’s enigma.