so bad : stayc

[33] what just happened?

edited: ✔

The eight, including Eunbi and Cheng Xiao (the latter kept on side-eyeing Eunbi), were in the meeting room again five days after the heist. This time, Sumin was leading the planning for their next move.

"So, we have completed Phase One of the mission. Stage One was to meet Hyunjun, our partner in this mission. Stage Two was to steal Juyeon's collar during a street racing competition. Stage Three was to access the headquarters of the Mavericks, steal the disk and plant a bug in their main computers for Hyunjun to access information. We also had to eliminate a group of affiliated people who invaded our school in an attempt to kill Cheng Xiao." Sumin pointed at the whiteboard filled with documents and stages of the mission.

"Moving on to the next phase," Sumin said, writing a "PHASE TWO, STAGE ONE" on another whiteboard, "We will be stealing the key from the group we intended to take down: Stray Kids. Cheng Xiao and Eunbi will join us since the former used to be under big sister Irene's care, but she and Monsta X had to go on an urgent mission. Eunbi will be in charge of the getaway car. Shall we start with the presentation?" Sumin turned on the projector, and a video she did not put up flashed on the screen. The girls looked at each other, confused. Sumin checked the connection on the control panels.

"Wait, isn't that Kim Sunwoo from the Mavericks?" Sieun remarked, looking at the ginger-haired person on the screen. Isa hushed the girls when the video started playing automatically.

"Greetings, STAYC. This video must've been unexpected for all of you, but that is not why I filmed this," Sunwoo spoke to the camera.

"Stray Kids is planning something, and the Mavericks are under tight control, so we do not know what is happening. We also cannot oppose their plans, or they will kill us. A picture will be flashed in five seconds; remember the contents."

"I am on a time bomb-" the picture of something flashed, and Sieun started scribbling down the words- "and Stray Kids has made me kidnap you all tomorrow, eleven-hundred hours. All of you will have to comply with what I say, else the plan will not work, and all of us will die." Sunwoo adjusted his shirt, revealing a different neck collar.

The LED signs of the collar flashed an alarming red, and it was counting down from seventy-two hours.

"Remember what I said. The memory card will self-destruct itself thirty seconds after it has been played. See you tomorrow."

The video shut itself off, and Sumin located the beeping memory card inserted into the projector, took it out, and threw it onto a tray used to burn papers. An alert sounded from Yoon's phone, taking out her phone to check.

"Hyunjun sent more information. I'll send it to Sumin's laptop," Yoon said. Sumin clicked around her laptop and turned on the projector again. She played the video forwarded by Yoon. Eight people were sitting in front of the camera, ready to announce something.

"They're Stray Kids. Look, he must be the leader." Yeeun pointed at a member with a slightly large build. Sumin clicked the play button.

"Greetings, the Mavericks. This will be your first mission with Stray Kids. Your mission is to facilitate the transfer of monies from a disk containing the list of groups working with us underground to an offshore bank account. The key will be with us; you will only have to locate the disk. When the group is done, all of you will report to us. Good luck."

The video ended. Sumin moved on to the other file. It was a floor plan of...

"This is the floor plan of Stray Kids' headquarters!" Seeun exclaimed as she rushed to the cabinets to take out the ring file full of Stray Kids' profiles. She slammed the bulky file onto the table and quickly flipped around, and stopped at a picture of a 2D view of the headquarters. "See, the shape of the building from the top matches the one shown in the floor plan!" Everyone stood up and surrounded the meeting table.

"And look, Sunwoo flashed a picture of this," Sieun said, holding up a paper with the characters "WW_L22_08 - CASE 143".

Isa pointed at the 'W' in the phrase and then moved her index finger to the picture beside the file, pointing at the west wing shown. "West wing, level twenty-two," she then gestured at one of the rooms displayed by the floor plan using the projector, "room eight."

"What could be so important in that case file that he wants us to get it, " Eunbi wondered, crossing her arms, pacing up and down along the windows. Cheng Xiao shrugged. Sumin went to the whiteboard and wrote out 'STAGE ONE: FOLLOW KIM SUNWOO TO HEADQUARTERS AND GET THE CASE FILE. STAGE TWO: STEAL THE EIGHT KEYS(TO BE DECIDED).'

"And how did he get the memory card here?" Sumin asked, turning around to face the girls. Everyone became silent. Isa's eyes widened before rushing out of the meeting room. She returned with a heart locket, black and red-coloured hearts layered above each other. She opened it. One side had their old The Boyz logo, while the other had a piece of paper stuck to it. She removed it and read the words out.

"Eleven-hundred hours. Outside your agency's headquarters. -KSW"

"I found this hung on the cleaner's trolley outside the meeting room. He could've disguised as a cleaner."

"We should inform Mr Lee about the security here. Honestly, I would've killed both of them if the agency allowed us to, but they're assets," Sieun groaned, slumping back into her chair. "Also, apparently, every member has a key to unlock the disk. We need all of the keys to unlock the disk. But why did they get the Mavericks to look for the disk? Did they lose it?" Yoon questioned, looking at the scenery outside from the window. The roads outside the building were busy; vehicles were speeding across the bridges.

Cheng Xiao opened up her laptop and typed something on it. "We don't know, but we have to have trust in Sunwoo and find out. But you know what's so peculiar about the whole thing? How the affiliations joined forces to become stronger, and the mission the Mavericks were assigned to?"

The seven watched Cheng Xiao in silence as she hit the enter key. She turned the laptop to face the others. Different profiles of Stray Kids and their associated groups were displayed across the screen, with a large red blinking sign covering the profiles, ultimately spelling out the words, 'DISAVOWED'.

"They all used to be official groups."