The Pirate King and His Queen

𝐺𝑒𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦, 𝑠𝑒𝑡

I walked at a brisk pace, still sliding my arms into the sleeves of my fur jacket. Jongho was a step behind me as I turned corner after corner, eventually pushing a door open to reveal a dim, cold stairwell.

Hurrying down it, I asked, "He's back?"

"Yes, sir. He arrived early this morning."

"And no one thought to wake me up? This was a high-risk mission, and yet no one woke me up, no one gave me an update on his health."

Jongho remained quiet as I pushed through the door on the bottom floor. When we walked out, I saw a group of people huddled around something-or someone-on the floor.

I pushed through the boys to see a boy with a goofy grin sitting on the floor, a scrape on his cheek and a split lip.

"Hunter," I said, crouching down next to him. "Are you okay? How did it go?"

Hunter laughed. "It went fine, sir. I got these injuries after getting into a small squabble with a guard on the way out of the mansion."

I looked up, searching the faces until I found Minjae. "Has he already been checked out by Yechan?"

Minjae nodded. "He doesn't have a concussion or anything. Just the scrape."

I huffed, then stood, looking all the other boys in the eyes. Some has crazy glints in their eyes, some looked tired, some looked bored. I looked to where Yunho stood beside Mingi.

"Yunho, I need you to do a roll call. Make sure everyone is here while I debrief with Hunter."

Yunho nodded curtly, then waved all the boys away from me and Hunter. I grabbed a chair and set it next to him before sitting to look at him.

"So. Tell me how it went."

Hunter huffed, crossing his legs as he looked up at me. "Well, I snuck into the mansion of the gang. Though, boss, I think they're more of a mafia with how many members they have. Their gang has miniature gangs within it. Anyway, I waited till everyone was at their meal time before I snuck in through the side window."

"Why the side window?" I know the answer, but I wanted to make sure.

"Because it's the closest to the data room. Once I got in through the window, I left it open in case I needed to run quickly."

First mistake: leaving a trace of something out of the ordinary.

He shrugged.  "I opened the door to find two people inside."

Second mistake: not checking surroundings before proceeding.

"Who?" I asked.

"The crazy one, Jisung, and the one that does the interrogating and torturing, Jaehyun."

Of course you had to run into those two. Out of all the members. Only person worse is the leader.

"I ran-or tried to-but they caught me. Jisung was giggling like an idiot as Jaehyun dragged me toward the meal hall. But a voice asked from the main staircase, asked them, 'Who's this?' I looked up to see Taeyong there, leaning against the railing on the stairs."

Of course...

"Long story short, boss, the two wackos were distracted by their leader and I slipped free. I got into a small tussle, which led to the split lip and the scrape, but I got away."

I frowned. "You didn't get the information I sent you to get?"

Hunter looked down and mumbled, "No..."

I sighed, standing up. "I told you this was a very important mission. And now that you were caught, and failed to get the information, that information will be doubly guarded, if it isn't deleted. So, it will be nearly impossible to get to."

I dusted off my jacket before shouting, "Wooyoung! San! I need you two in here!" I only had to wait a moment before they entered. Wooyoung had a bouncy walk as he approached, while San was more a swagger.

"What's up, boss?" Wooyoung asked with a grin.

"Hunter here needs a lesson about failing missions and getting caught."

Wooyoung's grin grew. "Oh? Anything in mind?"

I waved my hand dismissively. "I need to talk to Yeosang and Yunho. You figure this out. I trust you."

San watched calmly as Wooyoung approached Hunter.

At least Hunter was smart enough to look scared.