𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐦𝐧 • 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

19; on the way home

"SEUNGCHEOL, YOU SON OF A FUCKER!"

seungcheol jolts as a powerful door slam resonated in his office, dropping his pen. he looks up to see two angry inseparable artists, one had his hands on his waists, while one crossed his arms.

"you said the three would only last two days in miyuni, at most. where are they?!" jeonghan spat, slamming a hand down on seungcheol's desk. "did you give minghao back to miyuni?! you are unbelievable!"

what?!

"w—what?!" seungcheol's eyes widen, stuttering. "why— i would never do that! minghao's—minghao is important to me!"

"then why did you let him go to miyuni?! are you stupid?!"

"it's a— a job!" seungcheol shouted back, overwhelmed. in an instant, seungcheol realizes that he'd just yelled at joshua—and so he sighs. "he was also persistent about it."

"no," joshua narrowed his eyes, glaring at seungcheol. "you're doing this on purpose, aren't you? if you really cared about minghao, you wouldn't let him go there, even if wonwoo and seokmin went with him. tell me. tell us, what really is going on."

seungcheol sighed, leaning back on his chair.

he guessed, it was about time.

"junhui and i formed a truce in the war. back then, i was bombing locations. the deal between us was that if i don't kill minghao, his 'war machine', junhui will not kill me in return. then, he brought up a bounty." seungcheol gulped. "in minghao's contract, he was to never set foot in zuivet without supervision, or else they'll kill him, put a bounty on his head. i agreed to take minghao in zuivet and then get him back to miyuni under a week at most; then junhui and i could share the bounty."

"you wanted money?! is that why they're not coming back!?"

"no! no! i had a plan." seungcheol gulped. "i didn't want to send him to miyuni, believe me. i intended on keeping him here because he's only a kid, and he didn't deserve to die in the hands of junhui. here, i will protect him. provide care, and give him a proper life. but that isn't working out."

seungcheol's shoulders slumped, his eyebrows creasing. "recently, miyuni's military troops visited zuivet's military base. the miyuni military troops told them that i was 'planning on geting the bounty on minghao all to myself', which junhui probably instructed them to do. now, it's only a matter of time before they either shut down my business, or shoot all of us in this building. so, i sent a message to a good friend of mine in miyuni."

"friend? is that the one who sent the letter?"

"lee jihoon is a friend of mine who's in a high position in miyuni's military. i asked him to contain junhui, like make up a lie so that he doesn't try to pursue minghao. but, surpisingly, he roped in a prince into this and sent a letter to commission minghao. the commission was probably jihoon's way to solve this problem. i've had my doubts, but i let minghao go there anyway."

"you should've listened to your doubts."

"yeah. now they're in danger."

seungcheol sighed, pulling out his hair.

there is a very slim chance that those three are in grave danger, but seungcheol still worries. what if junhui emotionally manipulates minghao and makes him do something bad? what if the prince that jihoon got involved in this was on junhui's side, and planned this all along? jihoon would never allow that. seungcheol knows that, but he's worried.

he was so wrong for sending them there.

he trusted jihoon, of course. but not junhui. seungcheol should've checked if junhui was preoccupied with a mission or not, to ensure that their travel to miyuni isn't perilous at all.

minghao would think that seungcheol dumped him back to miyuni. seungcheol worries the most about that. minghao would fall back in to his spiral of endless thoughts, and would find it hard to get back up again.

"maybe you should give that friend of yours a call, if they're not already aware of what that stinky junhui is doing to those three." jeonghsn suggests, crossing his arms. he looks down at seungcheol through a squint, expressing his disappointment at seungcheol.

"i will." seungcheol stood up.