Born From Kings - Minsung (Promise Sequel)

Chapter Forty

7 Years Later

(AN: Stray Kids debuted 7 years ago. This is now set in the future, where things have changed since what we know now and Stray Kids have risen to the top as bands naturally come together and fall apart.)

The sweet smell of the marinated crabs was radiating off the food platter in front of him. The young man, dressed in a puffy black jacket and a black mask covering his face, leaned down over the stall's selection of food.

"I'll take three of these," he pointed down to the largest of the three sizes of marinated crabs. He waited patiently for the stall owner to pack up the crab before he could get going. From the corner of his eye, he spotted Hungcheol, his body guard, standing in a corner, looking ready to jump in at any time.

The young man almost rolled his eyes. Hungcheol was always following him around, he even walked him to the front door when he went from building to building. Even shopping for food, Hungcheol was on his tail. 

"Here you go young man," the stall owner handed over a large bag that had three separate containers inside. "Enjoy!"

"Thank you!" the young man bowed again before he walked back towards Hungcheol. "You could have just waited in the car," he pointed out. "I was gone for five minutes, you don't have to constantly being following me."

"We're already talked about this before, Minho," Hungcheol sniffed the air as they passed by another food stall. "I can't let you out of my sight, even if it's for a minute. A lot of things can happen in one minute."

"No one even knows it's me," Minho groaned, but he shut up as he passed a group of young girls, who were watching him carefully.

They had to get out, quickly.

"Let's go," Minho pushed into the crowd and disappeared, heading back towards the car without stop.

"I know you think that you're disguise is great, but it's really not," Hungcheol continued as they neared the parked car. "And if you-"

"Hyung, I'm serious, I just want to be able to go out once in a while and buy food from the market," Minho sighed. "Plus, they're waiting to pick up filming when I get home."

"Do you want me to drop you back off at home or at Jisung's apartment?" Hungcheol asked. 

"I..." Minho hesitated. "Drop me off at Jisung's apartment first. It'll only take a minute and then I'll go home."

"Alright," Hungcheol unlocked the car and opened the door for Minho, who sat down inside, setting the bag with the crabs down on the ground. Hungcheol got in the front seat and looked up at the camera monitor that the filming crew had set up in the car.

Minho looked up as well for a second, before he went back to looking down at his phone. "I just got marinated crabs," he told the camera, knowing if he didn't say anything right now he'd get told off later. "I'm going to go drop these off at Jisung's house before I forget."

Hungcheol pull out of the parking spot and started driving towards Jisung's house.

Minho stared out the window silently. He didn't want to keep filming, it was suffocating, not being able to be who he really was. But the company had decided that they needed to promote Stray Kids' new comeback with a documentary, so Minho was being followed around for a few days.

When they arrived at Jisung's apartment, Minho wordlessly got out of the car and walked towards the door to the lobby. It was a fancy place that Jisung had bought a few years ago, once they had hit big.

Minho had bought one nearby, but he truthfully spent more time at Jisung's than his own. But right now he couldn't stay, otherwise it would look suspicious on camera.