Blood & Water

Chapter 16

Hoseok had been in a pensive mood all day. Ever since he'd left the train container full of lunatics yesterday if he was honest with himself. Not that they weren't an interesting bunch.

But they weren't the reason he was in a mood today. Three dropped beakers of iodine at work, along with delivering the wrong orders to his customers at the local restaurant where he worked part-time. He was starting to think that the stress of the past few months was getting to him. And whenever he was under a lot of stress there was really only one thing he was left with to do.

But he had to stay alert. Especially now. After the revelation heavy night he'd spent yesterday, his head was a mess.

Not that he didn't agree with Namjoon. You had to become that which you had to destroy. There was no other way. The gangs weren't going to stop anytime soon. The only way to completely annihilate them was to destroy them from the inside.

Namjoon had spent hours explaining the intricacies of his plan. And every one of the seven people in that room had a crucial part to play. The revolution was starting.

Hoseok smiled to himself at that thought and rubbed at his temples, trying to ease the headache that had been bothering him. After too many mishaps at the restaurant, his manager had told him to take the day off. But rather than go home and get started on phase one of their plan, Hoseok was walking towards the 24-hour PC Bang.

Nothing like whiling away hours on gaming to take your mind off of the ethics of what you were about to do later in the day.

He entered the café, paid for an hour, purchased an energy drink, and went in search of an empty booth. Finding one in the back, he carried his drink and settled in the comfy gamer's chair.

He'd just finished booting up the PC when the person on the other side of the booth let out a curse and threw his headphones across the table.

Curious at the disturbance, Hoseok leaned up to take a peek at the guy. He had a ball cap on his head and had his hands on his face. He let out a disgruntled sigh and put his hands down and...

"Jimin?" Hoseok said, surprised.

Jimin immediately went rigid and jerked his head up. When he saw Hoseok, his posture relaxed a tiny bit, "Oh, it's just you."

"Yeah, just me. But what are you doing here?" Hoseok asked as he stood up from his seat to look at Jimin properly.

"I could ask you the same thing. Don't you have a job somewhere?"

Among the things they had discussed yesterday, this had been one of them. Places of employment. Acquaintances. Social circles. Where they lived. Everything had to be covered. According to Namjoon, no detail was considered oversharing.

Leaning his hands on the partition separating their two booths, Hoseok replied, "I got out early for good behavior. Figured I needed a bit of a... distraction. You?"

Jimin reclined in his seat, "I wanted to clear my head."

"You clear your head by playing video games?" Hoseok snorted.

"Hey, don't knock it till you try it."

Hoseok leaned over to look at what game Jimin was playing that had him so frustrated, when he noticed several empty bags of chips, empty noodle cups, and a half-empty bottle of coke on the table.

Frowning, Hoseok looked up at Jimin, "Been here for a while?"

Jimin shifted his eyes to the side, "Uh, kinda."

Trying to make sense of his sudden caginess, Hoseok closely looked at Jimin. He was still wearing the same clothes he had on yesterday. The cap was new. Likely so no one would notice him in a public place. But the weary lines on his face and the bags under his eyes were indicative of something else entirely.