Invitations | MinSung

8

Jisung stood against the wall, watching the carnage unfold. Some of the guests stood back, whispering to one another, while others panicked and called an ambulance. Felix and other security guards stood in a circled formation around the fallen Jang Heejin, stopping people from getting too close to him. Jang Heejin's mother knelt to the ground, trying to wake her son up, with tears rolling down her cheeks.

An ambulance arrived and Jang Heejin, who still hadn't regained consciousness, was taken away with his tearful mother. Throughout all of this, Jang Dae Hoon remained in the same spot, frozen, watching the scene with wide eyes. Jisung watched as Minho walked up to Jang Dae Hoon, putting a hand on his shoulder, which snapped him out of his trance, and muttered a few words, to which Jang Dae Hee nodded and turned to go sit down.

As soon as Minho had sat Jang Dae Hoon and calmed him down, he rushed to Jisung.

"What happened?" He asked, sternly.

"I- I don't know."

"But, what about Crane?" Minho continued to question, frustrated. "He didn't do anything?"

"No, that can't be right." Jisung tried his hardest to think. He had been keeping a close eye on Jang Heejin the whole time and, yet, something disastrous had taken place; he just didn't know what. He looked around, trying to think back to everything he had observed.

That was when Jisung spotted a man, slumping into a chair, hands clutching his stomach, while his wife tried to offer him water, panicked, and he remembered. Throughout the night, there were guests who looked ill and a few even collapsed or had to be taken home. It all seemed too similar to Heejin's situation.

"There's something in the food." Jisung murmured to Minho, putting the pieces together. "Or the drinks, I'm not sure."

"Huh?" Minho frowned. "What makes you say that?"

"Haven't you noticed that everyone else is also feeling unwell?" Jisung highlighted. "Look around." He gestured to the sick-looking, tired guests.

"This was Crane's doing?" Minho asked, incredulously, as if he were horrified and impressed at the same time. Jisung left Minho to go and grab a drink from a table. He brought it back to Minho, who sniffed it, cautiously and grimaced. "I'm pretty sure wine doesn't usually smell this... medicinal?"

Jisung suddenly felt very glad that Minho stopped him from drinking anything earlier.

"Minho, wait-" Jisung ran around to the back of the stage, grabbing a water bottle from the pack under the dressing table. He brought it back to Minho and proceeded to chug the entire contents of the bottle, making sure not to leave a single drop. "Here, pour it."

Minho carefully poured the, what they believed to be, contaminated wine into the bottle as Jisung knew someone who could find out what was in it.

"How's Jang Dae Hoon dealing with it?" Jisung asked, looking over at the old man who was sat with his head in his hands.

"He's absolutely livid." Minho replied, sighing. "I mean, I can understand the man. His son was basically poisoned and-"

"Han Jisung! Is that you?!" Jisung froze when he heard the booming voice of his department chief. "What are you doing here?" He questioned, approaching Jisung.

"I...I was just...." Jisung struggled to think of something to say.

"And why are you dressed like a security guard?" He continued asking questions to which Jisung had no answers. "Don't tell me you're pretending to be a member of security!"

Jisung looked away, in shame, since that was exactly what he did.

"Have you any idea what you're doing?" He scolded. "Jisung, this is illegal!" He whispered, as if Jisung didn't know.