Trust? - LuWoo ✔︎

Chapter 17

Chaemin ran home, her legs taking steady strides as she thanked herself for jogging every morning to increase her endurance. She really wasnt supposed to be out of class but she figured that her Father wouldn't scold her as long as she had a valid reason, and she did.

She took the usual way home, deciding to do that instead of taking a shortcut and having irrational thoughts along the way, such as suddenly being abducted in a suspicious alley. Her only plan was to make it to the server room of her house where she would then beg whoever was there to help her.

Startled glances were thrown her way as she entered the house, workers and pets alike freezing upon seeing her home at such an unusual time.

"Oh don't look at me like that!" Chaemin exclaimed, looking at everyone exasperatedly but not stopping her jog as she headed down a flight of stairs to a basement.

Big wooden doors halted her movements, intimidatingly blocking her way as she sighed and wracked her brain for the number that she had to type in order to pass.

"Now what was the stupid number? Zero, two, one, nine, nine, nine?" She asked herself, typing in the code but receiving a loud error sound.

"No silly," a voice responded behind her, laughing. "Its, zero, two, one, nine, nine, eight."

Chaemin made an 'O' with her mouth, feeling proud that she had basically guessed the correct number with just one error.

"Well I did have it completely correct except for the last number," She said in pride, turning to face the other person who just so happened to work in the area where she wanted to be in. "Hey, can you help me? I desperately need some help!"

The person looked at her with narrowed eyes, not trusting the sudden request. Chaemin was known as a sneaky, mischievous, weird person in the house and her asking for such a request was suspicious.

"Now why would I do something like that?"

"Because my best friend needs the help," Chaemin stated seriously. "Please, Seomin?"

Seomin stared at Chaemin with unwavering eyes, trying to figure out if they should really give her help but after a while, it was clear. They just wouldn't be able to deny the request.

"Alright, alright, but we have to keep this quiet. I'm not exactly allowed to let you do just whatever you want."

Chaemin nodded quickly, clasping her hands in front of her body in both a pleading way and a happy way. There was no way she was going to expose what they were about to do for various reasons but the main reason was because she didn't want her Father scolding her for doing 'dangerous' things.

Seomin punched in the code, leading the way as they entered a small room holding various computers and settled down on an office chair. A visual representation of the outside world was shown on the screens as Chaemin made space for herself, pushing Seomin out of the way as she began moving the mouse around the screen in a desperate attempt to figure shit out even though she wasn't even sure what she was looking for.

"Why don't you tell me what you want so that you dont ruin my setup?" Seomin asked, fearing for their screen's display.

"Promise you won't tell?"

Seomin sighed. They would never tell on Chaemin but they didn't really know how to say that without sounding like a sap so they simply agreed to the promise so that they could get on their way.

"Okay," Chaemin began. "I have a friend named Jungwoo and he's the sweetest person EVER but something happened between him and his boyfriend that caused them to break up after only a week or so but the problem is with his ex-boyfriend's friends─ wait, I'm not sure if they're still friends─ but I want you to find out if there's anything suspicious."

Seomin was confused.

They still weren't sure what Chaemin wanted but slowly nodded, expecting for more explanation but only received a smile which had them letting out another sigh.

They were sighing much more than ever but how could they not when Chaemin was there?

"Okay, now what? That's nice information but you still haven't told me what you want."

Chaemin made a disgusted face and lightly slapped Seomin in disbelief.

"What do you think? I want you to backtrack on all the recordings and see if you can see anything."

"What?!" Seomin asked, standing up from their seat and gripping their palms by curling sharp nailed fingers inwards. "Do you know how big this country is?! Do you know how far these cameras expand?! Do you think I'll be able to find it easily?!"

Seomin was nearly to the point of grabbing Chaemin by the collar and shaking her as if to try and put some sense into her but they held themself, breathing in to calm down.

"You better have a time frame and an area where whatever you want is most likely to be," Seomin sighed out, plopping back into their chair in defeat.

"Yesterday evening? By the small seven-eleven store? I think Jungwoo lives near to that and if I've been eavesdropping correctly, I should be right."

Seomin remained quiet, simply clicking away on the keyboard as they tried to pinpoint everything. By speeding up the videos, they were able to get through several hours worth in no time but how were they supposed to know what they needed if they didn't even know what Jungwoo looked like?

Expecting Chaemin to be watching intently over their shoulder, they didn't think once about the possibility that any of the people on the screen was Jungwoo. That was until they heard a rather loud and distant crunch that had them looking over their shoulder to see what the sound was.

Unfortunately, they were met with the frustrating sight of Chaemin right where she wasn't expected to be.

"SEO CHAEMIN, WHAT THE HELL?!" Seomin asked, spinning around fully in their chair to face the girl.

"Wha?" Chaemin asked through a mouthful of chips. "'M eatin' chips."

"I CAN SEE THAT!"

"Problem?"

Seomin could feel themself lose at least five years in the span of three seconds. How the hell were they supposed to know if they already passed Jungwoo with Chaemin munching away like nobody's business?

"Listen to me, I'll be leaving this room and you'll look through the video footage ALONE," Seomin stated, rising out of their swivel chair. "And I expect you to leave my screen set up the way it is and if it isn't, so help me lord I don't actually strangle you."

Seomin was out the door the second they finished speaking and Chaemin was now left to fend for herself in the confusing room.

"Well, anything to help a cinnamon roll," Chaemin whispered, settling herself in the chair with Seomin's chips.